
Welsh-made hydrogen car prototype unveiled for trial - rmason
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-35595240
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wilsonfiifi
Really pleased to see this, I hope it works out and attracts more foreign tech
sector investment into Wales. For anyone visiting the UK for the first time
don’t forget to put Cardiff on your list of places to explore! Go Cymru!

~~~
strongai
I have always wondered why there isn't more tech sector investment in (South)
Wales. Low cost of living, good transport links, a fantastic outdoors scene
(e.g. world class mountain biking) and strong links with academia. I would
choose it in heartbeat over London.

Edit: One of the reasons may be that the politicians' focus is on sponsoring
large-scale industrial opportunities to create prospects for thousands of low-
skilled unemployed people.

~~~
dTal
As a North Wales-ian who thinks the (robust) tech scene up here is not given
its due, this comment thread is annoying (in a ha ha only serious way).

Maybe it's because we like to make Serious Things like airplanes and space
telescopes instead of websites.

~~~
Wintamute
I grew up in North Wales and have been working in London in the tech sector
for the last 10 years. Considering a move back to the mountains, genuinely
interested in what the tech scene is like there now? Can you name some
companies?

~~~
dTal
Cool! I'm no expert, but optics, aerospace, and defense mainly that I'm aware
of. Airbus has a huge wing manufacturing plant in Broughton which I'm sure
helps anchor the industry, they have massive tie-ins with the local
universities through apprenticeships. Prototype mirror segments for the E-ELT
project are also being built here[1] (last I checked; there's been some budget
problems). I don't know everything that goes on of course, but my own job
searches have turned up both interesting-looking embedded work and more run-
of-the-mill web stuff, despite my earlier comment. I've seen lots of
datacentre/hosting type companies kicking about as well.

It's no Silicon Valley - Wrexham, the population centre, isn't quite (though
very nearly) big enough to hold the interest of the intellectually curious -
but it's a lot more vibrant than you hear about. Here is the business
directory of the business park in St Asaph where they're building the mirror
segments:[2]

[1]
[http://www.glyndwrinnovations.co.uk/articles/latest_news/the...](http://www.glyndwrinnovations.co.uk/articles/latest_news/the_uk_consortium_and_large_optics)
[2]
[http://www.stasaphbusinesspark.org.uk/directory/](http://www.stasaphbusinesspark.org.uk/directory/)

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jarmitage
On the topic of sustainable tech coming out of Wales, check out the Centre for
Alternative Technology. They've been going for a few decades and have some
great projects. It's also a fun family day out.

[http://www.cat.org.uk/index.html](http://www.cat.org.uk/index.html)

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cenal
I think Hydrogen Fuel Cells are the future of the automotive world. No range
limitations exist once the infrastructure for refueling is in place. It's
going to be interesting to see how the next 20-30 years of automotive
technology plays out between these alternative fuels and the autonomous
driving technologies.

~~~
vlehto
I think Vegetable Oil Fuel Cells are the future of the automotive world. No
range limitations exist now. Adapting infra is like adapting new grade of
gasoline. Now chronic fuel leakage exists now. Filling the tank is not rocket
science. No volumetric energy density problems for the fuel. No fishy "we make
this fuel out of natural gas, but don't talk about it" shit about it. No need
for high pressure containers. And it comes with all the good things that you
get from fuel cells, but you can also use it with traditional diesel motors.

The problems: Some C02 comes out of the exhaust. But it's carbon neutral.
Hydrogen has the "water out of tailpipe!" hype about it, but it's only really
clean if that hydrogen is made with electricity that comes from nuclear or
renewable (and clean) sources. Most hydrogen is produced from natural gas at
the moment.

The other problem is that we have limited capability to produce vegetable oil.
But we also have limited capability to produce hydrogen. With hydrogen you
could go with massive increase of nuclear power, and you got it. But currently
there is also research for oils produced by seaweeds that looks quite
promising.

Edit: Seems like Fuel Cell technology would be great, but it's held back by
hydrogen hype. And hydrogen hype seems to be destined as hype, because
hydrogen is freakishly difficult substance to deal with.

~~~
_ph_
We should use anything edible for feeding people, not burn it for driving
cars. Solar cells are far more energy efficient per area (about 10x) than any
agriculture. And, while "grown" fuel might be CO2 neutral, it still produces
the same poisonous combustion byproducts as fossil fuel (NOx, fine particles).

~~~
JupiterMoon
The OP suggested fuel cells. This would replace IC engines and should result
in complete conversion to CO2+H2O (with the whole process being carbon neutral
because the CO2 came from the air originally). I.e no NOx, fine particles etc.

I agree on feeding people however e.g. algae produced bio oil could be very
space conservative -- and could be used to e.g. clean waste water.

NB use of could and should rather than would throughout this post. Algae
produced bio oils are a matter of research at the moment and I don't think
that the fuel cells exist yet.

