SOME academics are already convinced that hydrogen is the future - but only if the Government encourages more investment in research.

Julie Foley, a research fellow with think-tank the Institute for Public Policy Research, said that although the UK has more than 100 organisations studying its applications, and £90m had been spent on research during the past ten years, Britain was still lagging behind countries such as the US and Canada.

She said the UK needed a bold approach, rather than subtler measures such as tax breaks for companies involved in the work.

Prime Minister Tony Blair gave a public commitment to hydrogen research earlier this year, but Ms Foley warned: "There is no doubting that a hydrogen-based future is still some way off, both for driving vehicles and for other applications. Hydrogen storage technologies need further development and hydrogen vehicles will require a completely new refuelling infrastructure.

"And, of course, it requires power to produce hydrogen in the first place - you can't mine it or drill it in the natural state. Given the very real constraints on renewable energy supplies in the short to medium term, this means that truly 'renewable hydrogen' is almost certainly decades away.

"If the UK is to catch up with its more committed competitors, to become a global leader in developing fuel cells and the hydrogen economy, then we'll need more than small pots of money and tinkering with tax incentives. We'll need strategic vision and the kind of effective action that speaks louder than any words."

Published: 07/10/2003