Community acceptance of hydrogen up, but still long way to go

Participants of VH2’s Hydrogen 101 event shared their thoughts on hydrogen before and after the session.

Current hydrogen perspectives

Climate change is a driving factor behind people’s interest in hydrogen. “I wish we would figure out something soon so we can fight back climate change,” one participant said.

“There are more ways that hydrogen can be produced or that can be utilised. It’s a really excellent solution…that quite possibly can solve almost all environmental problems,” another commented.

A large number of participants at VH2’s Hydrogen 101 session were concerned with how hydrogen would affect them: their jobs, cars, homes and environment specifically.

Notes such as “I like the idea of driving a hydrogen car” and “I wonder if I will be a future employee under this technology” were common among Hydrogen 101 attendees.

However, technical topics such as hydrogen storage, distribution and technology were rarely mentioned in participants’ feedback, suggesting disinterest or a lack of accessible information.

There was also a discrepancy between worries of hydrogen safety. For younger generations, hydrogen safety was not so much of a concern whereas older generations often reflected on events such as the fatal Hindenburg disaster, where an airship caught fire because it was inflated with hydrogen.

 “It was interesting to observe differences in people’s perceptions of hydrogen safety broadly correlating to age,” says Dr Beasy.

“This shouldn’t be unexpected because we all draw on our lived experiences to make sense of new situations; those that are older have more experiences to draw on! We know that safety is one of the main themes that the public mention when talking about hydrogen, but we also know that these concerns reduce with education.”

Activities such as VH2’s Hydrogen 101 are great for “dispelling any misconceptions about hydrogen,” says Dr Beasy.

“Research tells us that the more opportunity people have to learn and talk about hydrogen technologies, the more accepting of the technologies they become. At VH2, we find innovative ways of explaining how hydrogen is part of our broader energy system that go beyond scientific facts.”