Aberdeen City Council has engaged with various parts of the population to raise awareness of hydrogen technology in the Aberdeen City region.
One of the objectives of the Aberdeen Hydrogen Strategy and Action Plan 2015-2025 is Communication and Education – to develop a greater understanding and acceptance of hydrogen technologies in both industry and the general population to encourage widespread adoption.
Aberdeen City Council (ACC) has engaged with the population in various ways such as incorporating hydrogen cars in the City’s car club, running hydrogen tours at the hydrogen refuelling stations and co-ordinating hydrogen school challenges.
A car club is pay as you go car hire scheme, with vehicles available to hire at convenient locations for the public. ACC worked together with Co-Wheels Car Club to incorporate hydrogen vehicles as part of the fleet.
Since the build of Aberdeen’s hydrogen refuelling stations in 2015 and 2018, ACC together with the BOC and Norco (companies that operate the stations) have been running free hydrogen tours for both school children, public and private organisations. At the tours the fundamentals and possibilities of hydrogen technology are explained, and visitors are also shown how to refuel cars. YouTube videos have also been created.
ACC also worked with Arcola Energy (firm specialising in hydrogen fuel cell powertrain and vehicle system integration) to run hydrogen school challenges for pupils. The challenges comprise workshops where pupils build a fuel cell car using custom-designed LEGO kits and 2W fuel cell. This increases the pupil’s awareness of green energy.
Resources needed
Hydrogen cars in the car club was funded by Intereg North Sea Region Hydrogen Transport Economy for the North Sea Region project, Office for Low Emission Vehicles and Transport Scotland. Representatives from Norco and BOC lead the hydrogen tours. Trained professionals host the school challenges.
Evidence of success
Since the build of the hydrogen refuelling stations, there have been over 350 visitors. The ‘how to refuel’ YouTube video had 7,131 views between 1 July 2019 – 1 July 2021. Another video ‘ACHES Tour’ had 10,429 views between the same time period.
There are now a total of 9 hydrogen vehicles in Co-Wheels Car Club, comprising Toyota Mirai’s and Hyundai Nexo’s.
There have been 4 hydrogen school challenges in Aberdeen: 2014, 2015, 2019 and 2021. In 2021 754 pupils participated in the Challenge.
Difficulties encountered
A challenge with the tours is to adapt the technical content to the level of knowledge of different visitor groups, and organisation of the groups to adequate numbers so they can make the most of the tour. The challenge with the car club has been to encourage user uptake of the hydrogen vehicles.
Potential for learning or transfer
This good practice can be transferred to other regions and shows the potential of knowledge dissemination at all levels of society. It shows the possibility of collaboration with local car hire organisations to increase awareness of hydrogen technology to the public. Having hydrogen vehicles as part of car clubs and running hydrogen tours enables learning and familiarisation and promotes hydrogen acceptance.
The hydrogen school challenges can be adapted across various locations where hydrogen applications are already in operation. The workshops can be specially adapted to include location-specific content, informing students of the projects taking place around them and inspiring the next generation of renewable energy engineers, guiding them towards careers in engineering, environmental sciences and the development of cleaner, greener transport. Workshops can be facilitated and delivered by a STEM professionals.
Tags: Case study, Energy transition, Green, Green economy, Green infrastructure, Hydrogen, Low-carbon, Public, Public engagement, Renewable energy, Renewables, Stakeholders, Strategy, Transport
