Going green could be the way out of recession
Energy project which has received £6.5million of investment from Advantage West Midlands to develop the region as a centre of excellence in hydrogen energy research.
Professor Kevin Kendall of the School of Chemical Engineering at the University of Birmingham said: “It’s the hydrogen energy sector where I think we are ahead – we are beating London as they have pulled back a bit now they have got a new mayor but there is competition from Scotland, the North East and Wales.
“The investment that AWM has put in has had quite an effect.
But he added: “However, we lag way behind Germany in our progress.
“Hamburg, the second city in Germany has nine hydrogen buses, several hydrogen filling stations, a lot of wind turbines, and great ambition for expansion of these green technologies.
“By comparison, we have no hydrogen buses, one hydrogen station which we installed last year at the University of Birmingham and few wind turbines.”
He also singled out the specialist vehicle industry as a rising star for the Midlands, which is home to companies such as Coventry-based Modec, a maker of zero-emission commercial vehicles.
“The region has a unique range of specialised car companies, mainly SMEs, and these could gear up to produce thousands of green vehicles in the next couple of years if the incentives were introduced.”
But in the broader environmental sector, Prof Kendall said the UK lagged well behind other countries, citing Germany Japan and the US as established leaders where green technology businesses had received proactive support from governments.
“Overall the UK is behind Germany across all the green technology sectors and needs a vigorous shake-up,” he said.
“In areas like wind and biomass, the Germans are well ahead as a result of government subsidies.”
But Prof Kendall is optimistic the low-carbon economy could eventually provide a major source of employment, pointing out that the Birmingham Science City Hydrogen Energy project is already ahead of its schedule in creating jobs.
However he cautioned that the UK faces several challenges before it can get to a stage where the sector was able to provide significant shelter from the economic downturn.
“Whether the industry can continue through this crisis is another question.
“There is no doubt that the green economy can create new jobs.
“It’s a question of the areas where we can catch up with the competition – with the German, Japanese and Americans. It’s a question of picking up which areas we have the strengths and focus on that.”
