At this year’s RE+ Conference and Expo in Anaheim, California Max Accordino, Nicola Weiss, and yours truly put the e in education when it came to hydrogen fuel cell technology.  At the Horizon Educational booth, we had several of the science kits that we sell on display for people to see and interact with, including a wind turbine, a salt water fuel cell, and a solar panel.

However, we also built a min-H2GP racetrack and then put some H2GP-like cars on the track for people to race.  While the science kits were valuable and helped show people how Horizon Educational has been educating students K-12 on renewable energy for almost 10 years now, the H2GP track is definitely where the action was at.

Of the hundreds of people who stopped by our booth, a majority of them were surprised to see FCEVs at RE+ since they were not sure, up to that point, whether FCEVs were even real.  When visitors were handed the remote control for one of the cars, they quickly were amazed at both the speed of the vehicle as well as the fact that the cars had fuel cells in them.  Even industry professionals like PowerTap’s Salim Rahemtulla, MBA and Ballard’s Timothy Sasseen were excited to see the track and get behind the “wheel” of the FCEVs.

The chief marketing and sales officer of RE+ Events, Gary Thuro, also stopped by our booth with his family, and his kids were really excited to drive the FCEVs on the track as well as get their hands on some of our science kits.  (Thanks, again, to RE+ events for inviting us to the conference and expo!)  

Crucially many of the visitors also saw that the H2GP program is perhaps the most efficient way to help cultivate generations of future workers, given that the world’s economy is transitioning away from fossil fuels and into one based on electrification.  Across the renewable energy spectrum most of the visitors to our booth agreed that there is a definite need for electrified workforce development, and they also agreed that only the H2GP initiative is addressing that need.  While students find participating in the H2GP program highly enjoyable, they are also learning about renewable energy, how hydrogen fuel cells work, and ultimately they are seeing how electrons are playing ever-more essential roles in the global economy.  Students also develop strong critical-thinking, leadership, and other highly valuable skillsets along with the foundational knowledge they obtain through the H2GP initiative.  Thanks to the insights that Nicola and Max shared with visitors to the booth, many organizations had a greater awareness of how to tackle electrified education and expressed keen interest in getting involved in the H2GP enterprise.

We will definitely be following up with all of the industry professionals we connected with at RE+ in the coming weeks.  Speaking of the future, October 1^st is the start of the 2022-2023 H2GP season!  This coming week we will be sharing a lot of news about the season and other activities that are going on.