Public want hydrogen debate, says Salford uni

By SmartPlanet on 18 December 2007, 12:06pm

The government often assumes the public are sceptical about green fuels, and makes planning decisions accordingly. However, new research shows that this is often not the case, and the public would actually like to be more involved in these strategy decisions.

Hydrogen is hot property at the moment, with a number of green tech initiatives making use of its non-polluting benefits -- for example the Honda's FCX Clarity (pictured above) or the University of Salford investigated hydrogen production and consumption sites in Wales, Teesside and London, to find the true opinion of government agencies, industry and, crucially, the public.

As well as this, the team also undertook a £120,000 project to investigate the opinion on potential hydrogen use in Norwich, Sheffield and Southampton, where there currently are no hydrogen developments.

"Many policy makers assume that the public are ill-informed about, and resistant to, measures to prevent climate change and, as a result, tend to exclude them when developing policy," says sociologist Professor Rob Flynn, co-author of the research.

"Through systematic research we’ve discovered that this is not the case. Many people see hydrogen technology as an opportunity to regenerate their communities, reduce carbon emissions and live more sustainably. They want to be involved from the start so that any concerns or suggestions can be taken into account."

Now that they've found this out, the team have been given a further half a million pounds to try and develop ways for the government to better integrate these opinions.

"We’ll be using 'citizens' panels' which allow a representative section of the public to tell scientists and politicians what they think and ask them questions. That way, when a hydrogen energy strategy is produced it will be with the informed views of the public taken into account," says Flynn.

Although this research is important, and will pay off in the future, we can't help thinking what that million pounds could have done if put into a hydrogen production facility instead.