'Telling it as it is': typical failings in studies of lay opinion about a Hydrogen Economy

Realising a future hydrogen economy is an enormous challenge for scientists, industry and institutional actors. Even if they succeed, acceptance or rejection of changes to current practice by ‘the’ public could make or break the project. Fortunately there are now several studies on public awareness and perception of hydrogen energy and the technologies associated with it. Our paper presents a brief review of their findings and attempts a critique of their methods and conceptualisations. A future hydrogen economy would be a ‘complex socio-technical system’ not just a technology. This concept calls for appropriate methodologies, especially the need for improved qualitative research into public awareness and understanding of such complex issues as energy, and the development of a conceptual framework for gauging public attitudes to what might lie in the future. The paper concludes with an overview of fieldwork on these topics conducted by the authors with stakeholders and members of the public in three distinct areas of the UK.

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