Hymac – Plan for the Implementation of the Hydrogen Economy in Macaronesia: Stationary Applications
The main objective of the HYMAC project “Plan for the Implementation of the Hydrogen Economy in Macaronesia: Stationary Applications” was to identify technologies for the production, storage and use of hydrogen, both centralized and decentralized, and as a fuel for land transport.
To achieve this objective, an analysis was made of the problems of each of these technologies, the challenges they pose, the existing lines of research, finally trying to summarize the most appropriate primary energy sources for each case, the expected investment and operating costs, the expected time to market and the impact of each of them in terms of CO2 emissions (and therefore their potential savings over traditional technologies based on fossil fuels). Finally, a Perception Program was carried out in order to involve citizens in the effort to achieve a new “Hydrogen Economy”.
The project was financed by the INTERREG IIIB – MAC Community Initiative, and ended in November 2006. The University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria coordinated the implementation of the project, with the participation of the Instituto Tecnológico de Canarias (ITC), ITER, UNELCO, Electricidade Dos Açores (EDA), the Government of the Canary Islands, the Lanzarote Council, the Mancomunidad Intermunicipal del Sureste de Gran Canaria, the Federación Ecologista Canaria Ben Magec, the company Air Liquide, the Agência Regional da Energia e Ambiente da Região Autonoma da Madeira (AREAM), the Laboratório de Ambiente Marinho e Tecnología – Açores (LAMTec), the Compañía Transportista de Gas de Canarias (GASCAN) and the Tenerife Council.
The Tenerife Energy Agency participated in the Perception Program of the project, through a Collaboration Agreement with ITER, to carry out several informative-educational actions during 2006 aimed at the general public and the educational sector, at all levels:
- Adaptation of the informative material to the reality of the islands and advice to the rest of the partners.
- Elaboration of an informative triptych called “The Hydrogen Revolution”.
- Elaboration of an informative poster on hydrogen technology.
- Publication of the informative-educational material produced. 2,000 units of the Informative Triptych were printed, and 300 CDs were edited with all the materials elaborated by the partners of the project within its Perception Program: AIET Triptych; Educational Guides; Technical Sheets on production, safety and Hydrogen Economy; and Evaluation Questionnaires.
- Distribution of the material in different forums, and using different media (Teachers’ Centers, Schools, Fairs and Congresses, visits to ITER, downloading from the Web page, etc.).
- Practical workshops and lectures on Hydrogen, in parallel to other activities carried out by AIET, such as the lecture “Renewable Energies, Hydrogen and Energy Situation of Tenerife” in the Teacher Center of La Laguna, on April 28, 2006, for 40 teachers from all the Canary Islands.
- Presentation of the actions carried out on the island of Tenerife within the framework of the project at the Energy and Environmental Education Congress, held in Murcia in November 2006, by means of a Poster and a Communication to the Congress.
- Presentation of a poster on the actions carried out on the island of Tenerife within the framework of the project at the Inter-Island Environmental Education Conferences, which took place in Tenerife from February 20 to 23, 2008.
