Avsluttet: Preparing Socio and Economic Evaluatoins of Future H2 Lighthouse Projects

Economic predictions indicate that many national economies are falling into financially difficult times. When this occurs, there is tendency to shift priorities and funds, while less emphasis is placed on projects promoting environmental well-being. Prepa r-H2 is unique because the partners draw upon ongoing nationally funded demonstration H2 projects while updating 5th-6th EC framework projects in addition to the national projects, thereby creating many benefits at a very low cost. The consortium consists of: Icelandic New Energy (coordinator), SINTEF, Techn Univ. Berlin, H2Link (Denmark) and ENEA (Italy). The thrust behind Prepar-H2 is driven by a study-matrix composed in Hy-Approval and HyFLEET:CUTE which revealed that social studies carried out in cont ext with hydrogen demonstrations often lacked substantiation and consisted of preset and repetitive questionnaires than revealing dialogues. Often technical and demonstration projects, use vast resources for hardware while neglecting the human interface a nd cultural variations of both public and private perceptions as well as economic aspects. Integrating lessons learned from these H2 projects, Prepar-H2 will upgrade the social matrix through progressive interviews from a cross-disciplinary approach by in volving all stakeholders throughout the entire duration of the project. Applying the same method and having accessibility to others who are involved with other alternative fuels, Prepar-H2 will simultaneously provide an economic comparison between H2, oth er alternative fuels and conventional fossil fuel. The final outcome will be systematic social and economic data sets providing grounds for accompanying measures in future hydrogen lighthouse projects.