Letter to the Editor of the Daily Telegraph printed on 26th June 2023 from Professor Stephen Bush

The Government should not provide massive subsidies for hydrogen production (report, June 24).

Whatever lobbying has been done, the fact is that hydrogen manufacture, transport and distribution are mature industries.  Hydrogen has been used in American space programmes since the 1960s, and is a major ingredient of many basic chemical and food processes.  As a domestic fuel it is at the heart of Saudi Arabia’s projected 100-mile linear city along the Red Sea, and 125-mile hydrogen pipelines have been in operation in continental Europe for many years.

In Britain, hydrogen was used to sweeten coal gas, as distributed to domestic customers, for many years, until the advent of natural gas removed the need.  Whether we should use it as a constituent of our piped domestic fuel again is a separate question.  But there is no more sense in subsidising hydrogen than any other basic chemical like ethylene or chlorine.

Memo to Mr Riley, Area Engineer, Post Office Telephones, dated 4th February 1963

R C Layton, AMIEE, Chartered Electrical Engineer

(Mr Riley forwarded this memo to the Chief Regional Engineer, saying “The attached memorandum was produced in an attempt to answer questions raised by the explosion at Takeley U13.

Since it is possible the memo may have a wider appeal, copies are forwarded herewith.”)

In fact the memo was very widely circulated particularly within the Gas Board.

To read the pdf click on Memo to Mr Riley