There is no bigger challenge that humanity faces than the climate crisis and Bramble Energy, UK hydrogen fuel cell technology start-up was founded with that challenge at its very core – to help the world achieve Net Zero.
Global focus must be clean energy
The Mission Innovation Initiative currently comprising 22 countries, and the European Commission aims to accelerate innovation and be the catalyst needed to jumpstart investment in clean energy. One of their ‘missions’, discussed at COP26 is the ‘Clean Hydrogen Mission’ which sets out to increase the cost-competitiveness of clean hydrogen by reducing end-to-end costs to USD 2 per kilogram by 2030.
Alongside this, the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) most recent report ‘Net Zero by 2050’ tracks the progress and development of clean energy technology worldwide. The report highlighted almost half the CO2 reductions required by 2050 will come from currently demonstrable technologies. This is where Bramble Energy plays its part.
There is no ‘silver bullet’ technology that can deliver a full decarbonisation of our current way of life. It will take a combination of innovative and smart solutions, of which hydrogen has an important part to play. Hydrogen has been viewed as the ‘future’ solution but over recent years there have been several steps towards establishing a Hydrogen Economy not just in the UK but the world over. After COP26 finished and countries were told to be more ambitious with their carbon cutting plans or face utter destruction, hydrogen can finally move to its rightful place as an enabler of Net Zero. Now is the time for hydrogen and its associated technologies to be scaled and made accessible, affordable, and efficient.
Bramble’s journey to creating the solution
A key motivator for the Bramble Energy team is to be a part of the solution to tackling Climate Breakdown of our fragile planet. For humanity to keep climatic warming below 1.5°C rapid and decisive movement has to be taken towards adoption of renewable power.
Bramble Energy has developed a route to access, combine and distribute all forms of renewable energy generating technologies by cost effectively empowering the Hydrogen Economy. Formed over a decade ago in the labs of University College London (UCL) and Imperial College of London, the motivation of founder Dr Tom Mason was to solve a major problem which stood in the way of making fuels cells commercial: cost.
It is apparent and has been for some time, that to get traditional fuel cell tech to be competitive on cost, large volume production is required. This is why Bramble Energy has developed the unique, patent protected, printed circuit board (PCB) fuel cell – the PCBFC™. The innovation is the PCBFC™ utilises existing and cost-effective production methods and materials from the well-established PCB industry, reducing cost and complexity in manufacturing hydrogen fuel cells.
By creating products based on printed circuit boards, Bramble Energy has plugged into an existing global manufacturing base, as well as an incredible potential advantage in pace. Everything about the printed circuit board technology is digital. If you want to change it, it is as simple as amending a file, sending it to your manufacturer and they output it for you. Bramble Energy can conceivably turn around any design from concept to physically testing a stack within ten days.
Why hydrogen is the solution in the climate crisis battle
One of the main reasons hydrogen is an important piece in the Net Zero jigsaw is its versatility as an energy vector. It’s only emission is water, providing green energy to consumers and limiting particulates that are released into the air. Hard to abate sectors such as the steel industry will be able to drastically reduce their carbon output by use of green hydrogen and we have already started seeing this with a number of demonstration projects that have received funding to make green steel viable.
Scale is the new focus in the climate fight and also in Bramble’s own journey. The technology behind Bramble Energy can unlock hydrogen fuel cells as an affordable solution in the energy mix across a variety of applications. As we move into a new funding round we look to become the go-to name in affordable, scalable fuel cell solutions.
Bramble Energy believes that investment in clean energy technologies is paramount to climate action. Our business’s real inflection was the summer of 2020 when our Round A funding closed and, bucking trends, scaled from three employees to our current team of 30. This has only been possible with the investment of specific Venture Capitals in the clean technology sector, adding real capability to the team and kick starting our journey to change the world – for the better.
