"China welcomes any type of cooperation in the fields of
standards and codes, fundamental research--direct coal-to-hydrogen
process in particular--and commercialization," said Ministry of
Science and Technology (MST) Secretary
General Shi Dinghuan.
Shi was speaking at the International Partnership for the
Hydrogen Economy (IPHE)
Steering Committee meeting in Beijing Thursday.
"Only through close cooperation in the sector can we reduce the
cost of developing the new clean energy and avoid duplicating
research and development risks," he added.
IPHE was formed last November to organize and implement efforts
to develop safe and commercially competitive production, storage,
transport and use of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. The aim
is to develop a hydrogen economy and a sustainable energy
supply.
The group will give priority to hydrogen production and storage,
fuel cells, safety codes and standards, socio-economic research,
infrastructure research, technology demonstration and evaluation
and definition of international lighthouse projects.
Experts say that China's energy development will meet five major
challenges in the coming decades: High dependency on oil imports
threatens the nation's energy security; use of coal, currently the
nation's main source of energy, leads to severe pollution; strong
economic growth results in high energy demand; greenhouse gas
emissions result in global climate change; rural areas suffer from
energy supply and consumption problems.
Developing a new type of energy will require the concerted
efforts of the international community, since no individual country
can afford to complete the entire task, said Dr. Xiao Yunhan of the
Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Engineering
Thermophysics.
He said statistics indicate that by 2030, the world will face
exhaustion of oil resources and the impact of energy shortages on
human development will far outstrip that of the SARS epidemic.
"We must take precautions against the challenge of energy
exhaustion. Developing hydrogen-based energy is a good option,"
said Xiao, who is also secretary of the National Clean Energy
Action Project.
On Wednesday, the Institute for Fuel Cell Innovation under the
National Research Council of Canada signed a memorandum of
understanding (MOU) with Tsinghua University to
jointly develop codes and standards on safety, infrastructure and
testing of fuel cells.
Another MOU was also inked on the same day between Canada's
Westport Innovation and Tsinghua on collaborating in the
development and implementation of hydrogen-powered buses.
A total of 14 hydrogen fuel cell companies from Canada attended
the 2004 Hyforum --which closes today -- to discuss with Chinese
officials how to work together in the business and research fields
in the coming years.
The United States, Germany and some other European countries are
also working with China in the development of hydrogen energy.
The members of the IPHE are Australia, Brazil, Canada, China,
France, Germany, Iceland, India, Italy, South Korea, Japan, Norway,
Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European
Commission.
(China Daily May 28, 2004)