Hydrogen stores the wind of Fife

Scotland showcases the truly renewable office

The zero carbon club is coming to the office - on Scottish Enterprise’s new Energy Park, in Fife. Construction of the UK’s first hydrogen-powered office building is expected to begin there this January.

The park will showcase Scotland’s growing renewables industry, and the three-storey Hydrogen Office itself will get its electricity from an all-green wind and hydrogen combination. On good wind days, its wind turbine will generate up to four times the electricity its occupants need. The excess will be used to generate hydrogen - in which form the energy can be stored, for use in a fuel cell to provide electricity on windless days. Meanwhile, heat and cooling will come from ground source heat pumps - and solar panels will provide hot water.

Derek Mitchell is managing the £2.5 million Hydrogen Office project. He says the 1,200-square-metre building will be completely energy-self-sufficient, although the National Grid would be used as backup.

With Scotland’s challenging target of deriving 40% of its energy from renewable sources by 2020, the ability of the wind and sun to deliver sufficient power when they are needed will increasingly become an issue, said Mitchell.

“When you get to the 15-20% level [of renewables supply], intermittency causes issues. You need to find a way of storing energy. Hydrogen is a key solution because it is relatively flexible and can be used not only for electricity but for heat and transport.”

Subject to final confirmation that Scottish Enterprise will provide funding to top up money from the EU and a private developer, Mitchell is confident the office should be up and running by the end of 2007.

It may not just be the green-building brigade who makes the trip to Fife. Commercial buildings will be the new front in the climate change battle with upcoming legislation that will require public buildings to display how they rate in terms of energy usage.

According to a recent survey of property developers by architectural consultancy Gensler, the certificates could have a big effect on the commercial property market, lowering capital values of those that score badly.

Sir Digby Jones, former director general of the CBI, said: “Sustainability has increasingly become part of the language of commercial property.” - Terry Slavin

11 January 2007

Terry Slavin