Development of hydrogen-based, resilient city-region protocol and IoT monitoring system for economic development

Source: freepik

The increasing frequency of global shocks requires continuous adaptation from economic actors, irrespective of them being individuals, companies or settlements. Resilience as a skill has gained value as this characteristic ensures the responsiveness of an economic unit in face of a shock related to energetics, natural resource, raw material or any kind of other input factors. Many new solutions, technologies emerge that try to solve this issue, however the quick implementation of one single new technology does not necessarily lead to the expected changes if the economic and social embedding of the given technology is not adequate. The same is true for the widely cited hydrogen technology today. If the company or settlement choosing the costly hydrogen technology does not fit it into existing value chains and production processes, then its social and economic impact will be suboptimal.

Ongoing research at the UPFBE addresses this current problem through developing a protocol with the help of which experts are able to formulate advices with respect to moving towards hydrogen-based operations at the city-region or company levels. This includes the ’circular’ way of thinking as well if it is relevant in the given situation.

Beyond formulating advices, the research develops an IoT framework which can be used to monitor resilience at the level of the unit deciding to use hydrogen-based technology. With this framework, the unit is able to continuously measure the impact of technological and economic interventions and prove its the ESG development towards potential financing agencies and authorities which is closely related to the original goal, that is resilience.