IA HySafe organizes September 9th 2011 a workshop about Hydrogen Safety.
The workshop will be held in the Hotel Hyatt at Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco (California, USA) (http://www.fishermanswharf.hyatt.com)
This workshop is addressed to students and engineers who want to learn more about:
• General safety aspects
• Hydrogen properties
• Explosions
• Diffusion and embrittlement
• Regulations and standards concerning Hydrogen
• Practical applications (How to build a safe laboratory; How to build a safe filling station)
• Practical experience (Common misconceptions, Accident histories)
The whole program will be published soon.
Presentations of the FCH JU 2010 Stakeholders General Assembly available
November 9th and 10th the yearly Stakeholder General Assembly took place in Brussels. This year the meeting took place in an office building a little bit out of the EC district. It was well attended, even by non-European players.
Not really surprising was, that only one presentation (this of Mac Steen JRC) was dedicated to the cross-cutting items, which were grouped with early market. The meeting was used by other related groups, like IPHE, research grouping, and industry grouping for combined meetings.
On http://ec.europa.eu/research/fch/index_en.cfm?pg=sga2010_presentations you find all presentations. I could not find minutes which reflected comments made by Joaquin Martin-Bermejo of the EC. The comments were quite interesting as they somehow were balanced regarding pros and cons of the JU results so far.
Two persons killed by hydrogen explosion in Mexican refinery on 7th September 2010
A compilation of news articles may be found on: http://news.google.com/news/story?ncl=http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-latin-america-11223423&hl=en&geo=us
Balanced article on safety records…
Balanced article on (relative) safety referring to the recent explosion accident in US on http://www.bnet.com/blog/electric-cars/a-hydrogen-explosion-rattles-nerves-but-fuel-cell-cars-have-a-good-safety-record/2250
Conference: 3rd FCH JU Stakeholders General Assembly 9-10 November 2010
Conference: 3rd FCH JU Stakeholders General Assemblyhttp://ec.europa.eu/research/fch/index_en.cfm?pg=sga2010-intro]
The Stakeholders General Assembly is an annual event aimed at informing all interested parties about the activities of the FCH JU and acquiring feedback for future planning of the programme. It is also a key platform for European and global stakeholders across sectors to come together to examine and assess the current position of this emerging industry, exchange ideas on next steps and make contact. It is planned this year 9-10 November 2010 in Brussels, Belgium. The Joint Undertaking website is ready for registration.
Accident in California last Thursday
One person killed, two persons injured in a hydrogen explosion. For details see http://beforeitsnews.com/news/81/572/Explosion_at_California_water_fuel_research_company_kills_inventor.html.
IEA HIA Task 19 Meeting
The IEA HIA Task 19 meeting successfully decided on its final products presentation and determined some first details of the possible future safety task. More than 20 experts from 6 countries and two representatives of the US DoE met in Washington to accomplish what was planned for an earlier meeting in Rome, which had to be cancelled due flight cancellations caused by the the vulcano ashes.
The next meeting will take place in September or October this year possibly in Rome. Soon after this meeting white papers, position papers and a final report will be issued. Dissemination via workshops is under preparation.
The new task will likely be extended by a broader participation including new countries and possibly industry partners.
Again the ignition mystery, and again toy balloons
Exploding hydrogen filled balloons injured several people in China during a celebration act. Friction between balloons is suspected to generate static electricity, providing then the ignition for the accident. For details see e.g. http://china.globaltimes.cn/society/2010-05/530686.html
2nd FCH JU Brokerage Event on May 17th 2010 at the WHEC 2010
In June 2010, the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH JU) will launch its 2010 Call for project proposals. To help our members with the preparation of drafting proposals and search for the right consortium partners, NEW-IG and N.ERGHY will organise the 2nd FCH JU Brokerage Event, in Essen, Germany during the second day of the World Hydrogen Economy Council (WHEC). This 3-hour international event will take place on Monday, 17 May.
All details and application for participation on http://ec.europa.eu/research/fch/index_en.cfm?pg=call2010
Fire on board
The hydrogen-based ferry operated on the Alster, Hamburg, Germany caught fire during maintenance. The evil was not hydrogen but the batteries. The fire fighters successfully protected the hydrogen storage.
A German newspaper article is available at http://newsticker.welt.de/?module=dpa&id=24665034.