Drive for lower emissions

The Sustainable Energy Technologies Centre (SETCE) will open later this month at the University of Hertfordshire with the aim of building the world’s "greenest" cars.

As a result of this drive to minimise overall emissions of carbon dioxide by vehicles in the future, the University has entered into a Knowledge Transfer Project (KTP) with ITM Power in developing the use of electrolytic hydrogen in vehicle engines, which will be developed at SETCE.

The aim of the joint development programme is to improve internal combustion engine emissions; with the potential to bring significant advances in the move to zero carbon fuels.

During the programme, researchers will develop a safe, low-cost modification package for a town car to run on hydrogen and to provide the ability to refuel the vehicle at home or at work, independently of the current fuel delivery infrastructure.

SETCE researchers will also investigate the conversion of existing petrol fuelled electrical generating sets to run on hydrogen produced from zero carbon sources, such as solar and wind.