How far will Renault's hydrogen fuel cell Scenic go?

The hydrogen fuel cell car is also electric, but it has more oomph and more range than the usual milk float. You pump some hydrogen into the car much as you’d refill your car with petrol or diesel, and the gas chemically reacts with oxygen from the air. That takes place in the “fuel cell” or stack, and the electricity generated amounts to 90kw - enough to tug a medium sized car around.

The power is stored in lithium batteries, of the kind you have in your laptop, which is both good and bad for PR, given the incidents of spontaneous combustion that were reported a while back. There is also a conventional 25kw back-up battery on board. That lot powers an electric motor and that moves you and your Scenic along at up to about 100mph. It has a range of perhaps 150 miles. Both are far in advance of anything the conventional electric car scene can provide. Your hydrogen fuel cell Scenic sometimes leaves a little trail of water from the exhaust, like an incontinent spaniel. Very clean.

So as Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Opel, and now Renault have shown, the technology is out there, and it works well. The car felt fine to me; very quiet, obviously, with the traditional engine removed. It is noticeably heavier in the handling, as the Scenic ZEV has gained some 300kg of weight in the conversion, an issue for the engineers. Yet it stopped OK, accelerated briskly and went round corners at moderate speeds in a predictable fashion. As far as the safety of the tank is concerned, this pressurised unit has apparently had grenades thrown at it and survived, so it is probably more secure than most petrol tanks of today. But such concerns as this, and vague memories of the Hindenburg disaster will, I fear, prevent the public from taking to hydrogen fuel cells without a great deal of persuasion.

Trickier though is the whole question of whether this great leap forward is actually worthwhile, on environmental or economic grounds. The technology is there; but that doesn’t mean we have to use it. For a start there’s the cost. Economies of scale would soon kick in, but it may well be that there is still a cost penalty compared with the old-fashioned petrol or diesel car. Will we want to pay that?

By Sean O'Grady

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Homes that produce their own energy

Welcome to the new eco-industrial revolution. Until now, many people who have installed solar panels, wind turbines or other such green paraphernalia have done so largely out of ideological conviction. Increasingly, though, it can make economic sense, too, thanks both to the rising cost of energy and to a series of financial incentives, unveiled by the government last week, that will allow householders to sell surplus energy to the grid at premium prices. The proposals, which include the building of 3,500 onshore wind turbines, are designed to ensure that Britain hits its EU target of generating 15% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020.

Companies producing solar panels and turbines, or converting redundant water wheels, are reporting a sharp rise in sales as more and more of us try to move partially or completely “off grid”. Even Prince Charles is said to be looking at plans to dig 600ft down to install a ground-source heat pump beneath the gardens of Highgrove.

Such is the rise in demand for energy-sufficiency that County Homesearch, a property-finding company, has launched a specialist service, in conjunction with Gage Williams, a former army officer turned micro-generation consultant, that helps buyers to locate homes capable of producing enough surplus power to generate a considerable income. The company’s Cornwall office has identified 800 promising mills in the southwest, in various states of ownership and repair. If converted, they could produce enough electricity to pay back the cost of a turbine in as little as four years.
Using renewables to heat your home will not produce an income in the same way, but can reduce your energy bills. The main methods are solar thermal collectors, which heat water in pipes on your roof; heat pumps, which extract warmth from the ground; and wood-burning boilers. A basic solar thermal system should cost about £1,800 and provide about 80% of a typical family’s hot water during summer months - and make a useful contribution at other times. A typical ground-source heat pump - which requires either a deep hole in the ground or a large horizontal area - could cost between £6,400 and £12,000, while you could buy a 20kW boiler for £5,000.


John-Paul Flintoff

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Britons' energy bills may jump on Government's renewable energy plan

The Government's plans to increase the amount of energy from renewable sources could mean higher bills for customers.
John Hutton, the Business Secretary, will today unveil a new "blueprint" which will lead to 15 per cent of Britain's energy coming from renewables by 2020.

There will be a shift away from fossil fuels to wind, solar and tidal power, which will mean 7,000 new wind turbines being built.

Mr Hutton warned it could mean householders facing higher utility bills at a time when energy costs are already riding.

However, homeowners will be given financial incentives to fit their roofs with solar panels.

Mr Hutton said: "There is a cost of going green. But there is a greater cost if we don't. The challenge is to make this change in the most effective way possible.

"We have little real choice. The option of making no change is not available."
Mr Hutton said the plans, which will need £100 billion of new investment, were the biggest shake-up in Britain's power generation since the Industrial Revolution.

By Andrew Porter

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Get the cheapest 'green' energy deal

Switching to a ‘greener’ energy tariff may cost you more than a conventional deal but it needn't cost the earth, Which? Money says today.

The magazine has compared green gas and electricity deals from 10 energy suppliers to find the best available.

We found that Npower was the cheapest green option for gas and dual fuel tariffs (a gas and electricity package), while for electricity Scottish Power was the best value.
Renewable energy

Using a variety of addresses around the UK, our researchers posed as a customer currently paying £720 a year for gas and £480 a year for electricity from different companies.

We found that green energy tariffs are still significantly more expensive than the cheapest non-green options.

But the prices of green tariffs also vary hugely, and some are more eco-friendly than others.
Dual fuel discount

Which? Money editor Martyn Hocking said: ‘Many companies offer a dual fuel discount if you buy both gas and electricity.

‘Consider carbon offsetting as a potentially cheaper alternative to green energy. But if you are buying green energy, check the company’s fuel mix to see how much renewable energy it produces overall.’

Which? runs an impartial energy price comparison site, Switch with Which?.

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