Written by Mithila Manage, Graduate Research Engineer (UCL Chemical Engineering)

Torrential rain and knee deep mud couldn’t keep us away from a weekend of fun, music and spreading the word about our hydrogen fuel cell!

Off we went with our wellies at the ready to the Green Man Festival in Wales (17-19 August) to provide clean power to the Omni-Tent in Einstein’s Garden. Though I’m willing to bet Einstein probably wouldn’t have come up with something as great as this – the Garden aims to bring science to the masses and this year had an energy theme sponsored by the RCUK Energy programme.

Design of the hybrid polymer electrolyte fuel cell system has been led by Gordon Murray Design in collaboration with researchers from the UCL Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London and BOC. It has the ability to produce a whopping 8 kW of power; more than enough to provide clean, green and efficient power for the stage, sound and lighting in the Omni-Tent, which brought more science-themed fun to the festival crowd all weekend.

But, let’s face it, as much as I get excited about it and as great as it is for science and engineering, the magic of the fuel cell is still hidden away in a red box. That’s why we designed a game that made the festival goers a part of it. So much so, in fact, that they came out of it feeling like the hydrogen molecule itself! Welcome to the hydrogen relay.

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