As part of the OpenGeneva Festival of Innovation we held a Hydrogen Economy hackathon at Pangloss Labs all day Saturday 14th, followed up with the HACKSHOW at Head in Geneva on Sunday 15th.

As part of more than 30 innovation events taking place this week, Pangloss Labs was proud to host an SDG-related hackathon, seeing how far we could go in replacing fossil fuels around Lake Geneva.  The “Zero Emission Valley” project of the Region Rhone-Alpes-Auvergne inspired us a lot.

Thanks to Klaus, we started with a chemistry primer which set us all straight on why hydrogen is a good replacement for existing fossil fuels (no CO2 emissions, good energy density) as well as some of the tricky parts (good at leaking, difficult to liquify, the most used industrial process to generate hydrogen also generates CO2).

We then went from here on an exploration of the different usages and distribution mechanisms, with a focus on the Lake Geneva region.  By lunchtime our energy levels were flagging, but a few pizzas fixed that, and in the afternoon, we thrashed out a plan for the hydrogen economy around here.  It’s just a start, but we are motivated to continue.

Our poster for the HACKSHOW on Sunday.  The project continues…