Over his three decades in the film industry, one thing always bothered David Hardy: diesel generators.

“The pollution is gross. It’s killing us. There’s got to be a better way,” Hardy says of the loud, emission-spew- ing generators traditionally used by film crews to power equipment when shooting on location.

Seven years ago, Hardy—a former VP at equipment-rental giant William F. White—got serious about finding a better way. He teamed up with a group of engineers working in the hydrogen space to explore new eco-friendly power solutions.

After a years-long development process “that’s been a little bit more of a journey than we expected,” Hardy and his company, Hone, have a brand-new, zero-emission hydrogen generator ready to be put to work on Canada’s film and TV sets. It’s powered by an internal combustion engine, and costs roughly as much as a diesel generator. It burns “100 per cent clean,” says Hardy, with no carbon dioxide emissions.

Hone’s generator looks and operates much like the diesel generators film crews are used to. “The power output is the same. The connections on the interface look the same,” says Hardy. One significant difference is that each generator is connected to a fuel block trailer with a flexible hose. The trailers carry cylinders filled with hydrogen gas. When the generator isn’t running or is being moved, it has zero fuel in it, reducing the risk of spills or fires.

These are all marks in the generator’s favour. Another one: apart from the internal combustion engine, which comes from Germany, the generator is a Canadian-made product. What could prevent the screen industry from adopting this technology on a large scale?

Hardy believes the greatest obstacle will be the price of hydrogen gas (measured in kilograms) compared to diesel fuel (measured in litres), and educating people on what that actually means for their budget. Hydrogen costs $15 to $20 a kilogram, and one fuel block trailer carries up to 130 kilograms. While that total might seem steep compared to diesel, Hardy points out that one trailer can keep the generator running for two days of filming—considerably longer than most diesel generators.

He also believes the price will drop as soon as more hydrogen producers enter the ring. “Like any new technology, when it comes in, it’s usually a little more expensive, until it scales to a point where it kind of crosses over with the incumbent,” says Hardy. “We expect that to happen within a couple of years. We’re confident that soon, nobody will think, ‘Oh, that’s more expensive than diesel,’ because it won’t be.”

According to Hardy, it’s high time this kind of technology joined the mainstream: “The ability to show up on set, plop your generator on base camp, and not have to worry about the crew and the talent and the kids on set breathing all this crap—it’s an idea whose time has come, and we hope the industry feels the same way.”