Hydrogen is one of the biggest buzzwords I’ve encountered when researching and writing environmental stories these last few months, but to be honest, I didn’t think much about how this green energy source is created.

It came as a surprise  then when Gil Davidman, the CEO of Israeli hydrogen startup QD-SOL, explained that this ‘clean’ energy  is actually often made by burning gasses and releasing a disturbing amount of carbon dioxide.

His company, which is based on years of ground-breaking research carried out in the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology, hopes to tackle this problem head on by manufacturing hydrogen in a clean, off-the-grid and affordable way.

With a first working system likely to be ready in the next 18 months, this is a great example of how cooperation between academia and business can lead to amazing breakthroughs. And I’m not the only one to think so – just ask Ashton Kutcher, one of QD-SOL’s investors.

Read on to learn more about the challenges facing the world as we shift our economy to a greener, more sustainable one, and the innovation required to tackle them head on.

Shabbat shalom,