| Project | Hydrogen Dairy |
| Brief | International competition entry to redesign the electricity pylon #2 |
| Date | 2011 |
| Location | United Kingdom |
| Design Team | Oval Partnership, TS Architects and Milk Structures |
The prospect of a multitude of smaller scale, renewable energy sources in the form of wind turbines, solar farms and tidal generators proliferating across the landscape, often sited in sensitive and remote locations, is one we surely have to embrace.
But is converting and transmitting that energy as electricity through above-ground cables carried on pylons the most efficient, appropriate or environmentally sensitive solution?
We would suggest perhaps not.
We propose a national network of hydrogen dairies. The argument for hydrogen as the fuel source of the future is steadily being won with hydrogen powered buses now a reality in London. Used initially as a damper, or ‘sponge’, to soak up demand fluctuations in the existing grid it is easy to see how a gradual transition to a hydrogen fuel economy could be achieved.
Our argument is that this is now the right technology to convert and transport energy from a myriad of sources of widely varying size and capacity scattered across the landscape – just as milk is collected from farms large and small through an adaptable, flexible network.
But is converting and transmitting that energy as electricity through above-ground cables carried on pylons the most efficient, appropriate or environmentally sensitive solution?
We would suggest perhaps not.
We propose a national network of hydrogen dairies. The argument for hydrogen as the fuel source of the future is steadily being won with hydrogen powered buses now a reality in London. Used initially as a damper, or ‘sponge’, to soak up demand fluctuations in the existing grid it is easy to see how a gradual transition to a hydrogen fuel economy could be achieved.
Our argument is that this is now the right technology to convert and transport energy from a myriad of sources of widely varying size and capacity scattered across the landscape – just as milk is collected from farms large and small through an adaptable, flexible network.
