Honda Motor Company to be Awarded Prestigious Grove Medal for Their Achievements in Producing the FCX Clarity Hydrogen Powered Vehicle
At the forthcoming Grove Fuel Cell Symposium, taking place on 22-24 September 2009 at Westminster’s Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, the prestigious Grove Medal will be awarded to the Honda Motor Company in recognition of their achievements in producing the FCX Clarity hydrogen powered passenger vehicle.
Oxford, UK — The Honda FCX Clarity is a fully practical and road-worthy car with room for four passengers and their luggage. Significantly, the FCX Clarity more than double the fuel economy than its petrol equivalent and one-and-a-half times that of a petrol-electric hybrid, whilst emissions consist only of water. Huge interest has resulted from it being made available commercially to the public in the U.S.A., and it is hoped that fuel cell vehicles will rapidly become more widely adopted throughout Europe.
The Grove Fuel Cell Symposium is a major international conference, and provides a European forum to encourage the commercialization of all types of fuel cells and promote collaboration in their development and application. It will again be held at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, Westminster, London from 22 – 24th September, and is the eleventh symposium in the series. The first, held in 1989, commemorated the 150th anniversary of the invention of the fuel cell in 1839 by Sir William Grove.
The first Grove Medal was awarded to an Englishman, Francis (Tom) Bacon for his pioneering development of the fuel cells which were developed into the Apollo spacecraft power sources, enabling Man to land on the moon forty years ago this year. A US President congratulated him, saying “Without you, Tom, we wouldn’t have gotten to the Moon”. Subsequently, Grove Medals have been awarded to many other world leading figures and organizations developing fuel cells including United Technologies Corporation, (suppliers of the Apollo and Space Shuttle Orbiter fuel cells), Fuji Electric Company, Fuel Cell Energy, the California Environmental Protection Agency, Haldor Topsøe A/S, Ballard Power Systems and DaimlerChrysler AG. The recipients are chosen by an international body, the Grove Symposium Steering Committee and the medals are sponsored by Elsevier, organizer of the event and world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services.
Hydrogen is seen as a sustainable and secure energy vector which can be easily generated, transported and stored, and is capable of being generated from renewable energy or converting waste materials. As such, it will form the basis of environmentally friendly stationary generators, as well as vehicle propulsion. The sustainable generation and storage of hydrogen will be addressed at the Symposium by speakers including Professor Tim Mays of Bristol University and Rupert Gammon of Bryte Energy, while the development of a hydrogen infrastructure and vehicle developments will be reported by Catherine Dunwoody of the California Fuel Cell Partnership. Progress will be reported on stationary systems, including those operating on renewable energy sources. These will become increasingly important as waste streams from industries such a brewing and water treatment are used to generate electric power.
While the United States, Japan and Germany are presently leading the way in demonstrating fuel cells, a series of developments could lead to Britain becoming a major player in fuel cell powered electric vehicles. A coordinating body, UK HyNet will be launched at the Grove Symposium. This is intended to promote a hydrogen vehicle refueling network and to make the United Kingdom the preferred location for development and demonstration of passenger cars and service vehicles such as buses, taxis and delivery vans and includes Nissan as a partner. Organisations such as HyNet, SUPERGEN (Sustainable Power Generation and Supply) and the Regional Development Agencies are making the UK a major player in developing fuel cell systems and infrastructure. Many British companies and organisations already participate in European research and development programmes, as well as producing fuel cells and components which are sold world wide.
Other topics of major current interest will also be covered in the Eleventh Grove Fuel Cell Symposium including combined heat and power systems in buildings, electricity generation and transmission, electronic and portable fuel cell systems, including the latest technical developments in these fields. These also emphasize the importance of fuel cells as a clean energy technology.
The symposium provides a forum for customers as well as fuel cell manufacturers to meet and discuss their joint aims in this important and rapidly moving field, while the accompanying Exhibition provides a showcase of some of the latest technology.
This year’s event, taking place at Westminster’s QEII Conference Centre, London, promises to provide the latest information in fuel cell technology, from the use of fuel cells in buildings, to hybrid vehicles and portable applications.
Join us this September to discover developments from around the world and learn about the latest technologies and developments.
For further information or to register for your free visitor place at the Eleventh Grove Fuel Cell Symposium please visit www.grovefuelcell.com
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