Last Call for HCTF Activities

by Karen Quackenbush

This is a final call for FCHEA members who wish to participate in any of the three new activities being initiated by our Hydrogen Codes Task Force.

Please let Karen Quackenbush (kquackenbush@fchea.org) know as soon as possible if you are interested in participating in the kick-off meetings for any of the following investigations:

  • A review of the preliminary copy of the NFPA 2 First Revisions Report, is now available to NFPA 2 Technical Committee members. This report is a working draft of the committee meeting output, including copies of the First Revisions and any Global Revisions. The content is not final and is subject to revision prior to the letter ballot and publication of the First Draft Report (formerly ROP). This report is being made available to committee members for the purpose of facilitating early review, particularly for those committee members who may be seeking input from their respective organizations in preparation for the Letter Ballot of the Committee.  FCHEA is one such organization, as this activity forms a part of our Transportation Working Group Hydrogen Codes Task Force (HCTF). This Preliminary First Revisions Report is not available to the public, so distribution must be limited to members for the purpose of evaluating the draft with respect to FCHEA’s public inputs and industry needs.
  • A review of the I-Codes to identify potential code change proposal needs to ensure harmonization with industry standards and appropriate NFPA codes. Public comments are due January 8, 2018.
  • A review of potential code pathways to facilitate use of automotive fuel cell systems for stationary power applications.

FCHEA will hold meetings on these topics by WebEx throughout December and January. Any FCHEA member with an interest in any of these activities is encouraged to contact Karen Quackenbush (kquackenbush@fchea.org) as soon as possible.

2017 Fuel Cell Seminar Highlights RCS

by Karen Quackenbush

The 2017 Fuel Cell Seminar & Energy Expo, held in Long Beach California November 7-9, was successful on all accounts. Attendance was up from recent years, and the range of topics covered in 31 technical break-out sessions as well as poster presentations was up significantly.

One area where this was most evident was the topic of Safety, Codes & Standards. Topics included Infrastructure Safety; Regulations, Codes & Standards; the Hydrogen Fueling Activities/Analysis at National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and much more!

FCS organizers are collecting the presentations from authors, and will be posting them online for access by 2017 FCS attendees.


European Summer School on Hydrogen Safety 2018

by Karen Quackenbush, FCHEA

The first announcement of European Summer School on Hydrogen Safety (ESSHS) 2018 is now available. ESSHS 2018 is a part of JESS 2018 (information about the school in previous years can be found at http://www.jess-summerschool.eu/).

The school will be held in Hotel Amarilia (Athens) during 17-21 September 2018 (arrival 16th and departure 22nd of September).

If you have any questions and to reserve a place please reply to Professor Vladimir Molkov, Director of Hydrogen Safety Engineering and Research Centre, Ulster University, UK (v.molkov@ulster.ac.uk) with a copy to:

Educational Videos about hydrogen and fuel cells

By Karen Quackenbush, FCHEA

Nick Barilo, hydrogen safety program manager of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and member of the technical committee for NFPA 2, Hydrogen Technologies Code, discusses the need to educate first responders and the general public about hydrogen and fuel cells in a brief YouTube video uploaded on October 23, 2017 by the National Fire Protection Association.

The video can be seen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCV3AILPVR4

A number of hydrogen training videos for first responders, permitting officials, and the public are available on the Hydrogen Tools Portal at https://h2tools.org/videos. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory developed this Portal through support from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). The goal of the Portal is to support implementation of the practices and procedures that will ensure safety in the handling and use of hydrogen in a variety of fuel cell applications.

 SASB Standards Now Open for Public Comment

The 90-day public comment period for the SASB’s Exposure Draft Standards is now open, through December 31, 2017.

The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) today published its Exposure Draft Standards and has officially opened a 90-day public comment period - the last before codification of its standards. The Exposure Draft Standards for 79 industries in 11 major sectors (listed below) will be open for feedback -- from corporate professionals, market participants, and public interest and intermediary stakeholders -- from October 2 through December 31, 2017. We encourage you to take this opportunity to provide feedback on the Exposure Draft Standards before the provisional standards are codified. The sectors and industries covered are:

  • Health Care (6 Industries)
  • Financials (7 Industries)
  • Technology & Communications (6 Industries)
  • Extractives and Minerals Processing (8 Industries)
  • Transportation (8 Industries)
  • Services (10 Industries)
  • Resource Transformation (5 Industries)
  • Food & Beverage (8 Industries)
  • Consumer Goods (7 Industries)
  • Renewable Resources & Alternative Energy (6 Industries)
  • Infrastructure (8 Industries)

The SASB’s Standards are for use by U.S. and foreign public companies in their disclosures to investors, such as in annual reports and filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including Forms 10-K, 20-F, 40-F, 10-Q, 8-K, as well as S-1 and S-3. The SASB Standards identify sustainability topics that are reasonably likely to constitute material information for a company within a particular industry. Company management is responsible for determining whether those identified topics reflect information that is material to investors and should be disclosed in filings, based on that company’s specific circumstances.

Make a comment by clicking here. 

More Information:

Changes covered within the Exposure Draft Standards are those for which significant supporting evidence and/or market feedback was received during the 2017 consultation period. Priority was given to items that would improve quality of the standard, including the materiality and/or decision-usefulness of the information the standard is designed to yield and the cost-effectiveness of implementation. For more information on the changes, please refer to the Exposure Draft as well as the associated Basis for Conclusion document which provides the rationale and supporting evidence for the proposed changes.

Commenting:

Please provide comments through the SASB’s Comment Portal. The SASB will track and make all comments publicly available.

Make a comment by clicking here.

For further information, please contact info@sasb.org.