Going Clean Is Dirty Business
A podcast about the hydrogen energy breakthrough, almost!
After more than a decade of research, investigation, and documentation of events as they unfolded, Deckchair Productions has just launched Going Clean Is Dirty Business, a gripping new narrative podcast that uncovers one of the most extraordinary stories in modern clean energy history.
The narrative tells the inside story of a maverick TV pioneer-turned-clean-energy insurgent behind the billion-dollar hydrogen breakthrough that came within touching distance of changing the world by giving people free, clean energy (and could still).
Each week, in conversation with filmmaker Harry Otto Brünjes and Nick Abson retraces this unique journey: from directing Queen’s We Will Rock You and Kate Bush’s Wuthering Heights, to revolutionising British television, to building Europe’s largest fuel cell company, before losing £250 million in a single catastrophic week after 9/11.
What follows is a story that moves from pop culture to high finance, from factory floors to the Houses of Parliament, from Wall Street to the US Supreme Court. As hydrogen fuel cells stood on the brink of going mainstream, something happened. Deals were made. Alliances shifted. Legal battles ignited. And a technology that promised clean power and clean water quietly disappeared from view.
Compiled over ten years and told through exclusive first-hand testimony, Going Clean Is Dirty Business charts the rise of a man who became one of the richest figures in Britain and his dramatic fall into financial ruin, geopolitical conflict, and a fight for survival.
This is more than a podcast about energy. It’s a high-stakes saga of ambition, power, betrayal, and resilience, and the story of a technology that, against all odds, refuses to die.
Speaking on the launch, Nick Abson said: “I’ve always believed cheap clean energy is not only possible but realistic. The destruction of our companies, facilities, endless court cases, and threats have never made me think differently. The idea that energy is a right not to be exploited is the mantra. I learned how to build technology that everyone can and should be able to make. It’s not a distant idea, but a reality that can be achieved, no matter how many oppose it. For the last ten years, we have been documenting how to tell the story and get on with challenging the status quo to power the people.”
Harry Otto Brünjes added: “I first sat down with Nick in the back room of a pub in Chelsea. I thought I was meeting a colorful character with an unbelievable story, but I soon realized we were sitting on one of the most important and disturbing clean-energy investigations of our time. Our job for this podcast has been simple: follow the evidence, test the claims, and let listeners decide.”
Season one will launch with six episodes, and Seasons two and three are planned for release later this year.
In episode one, titled Epiphany, Nick Abson, a pioneering music video and TV director, is at a crossroads in his life and career. Whilst making a TV show about how to build the perfect car, Nick learns about a space technology that could be the solution not just to car emissions but to everything. Nick realizes the reason for everything, angering him to do something about it. He has an epiphany, realizing the reason why we don’t have it already.
Going Clean Is a Dirty Business is a fascinating narrative involving clean energy, pop culture, and a fair amount of intrigue.
About the Creator
Frank Racioppi
I am a South Jersey-based author who is a writer for the Ear Worthy publication, which appears on Vocal, Substack, Medium, Blogger, Tumblr, and social media. Ear Worthy offers daily podcast reviews, recommendations, and articles.
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