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The
President's Hydrogen Fuel Initiative: A Clean and Secure Energy
Future
From the US Department of Energy web site, January 2003.
Today's Action
President Bush announced a $1.2 billion Hydrogen Fuel Initiative
to reverse America's growing dependence on foreign oil by developing
the technology needed for commercially viable hydrogen-powered fuel
cells - a way to power cars, trucks, homes and businesses that produces
no pollution and no greenhouse gases. The Hydrogen Fuel Initiative
will invest $720 million in new funding over the next five years
to develop the technologies and infrastructure needed to produce,
store, and distribute hydrogen for use in fuel cell vehicles and
electricity generation. Combined with the FreedomCAR (Cooperative
Automotive Research) Initiative, President Bush is
proposing a total of $1.7 billion over the next five years to develop
hydrogen-powered fuel cells, hydrogen infrastructure and advanced
automotive technologies.
The Hydrogen Fuel Initiative will complement the President's FreedomCAR
Initiative, which is developing technologies needed for mass production
of safe and affordable hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles.
Together, the Hydrogen Fuel Initiative and FreedomCAR will, through
partnerships with the private sector, develop new vehicle and fuel
technologies and infrastructure needed to make it practical and
cost-effective for large numbers of Americans to choose to use fuel
cell vehicles by 2020. These initiatives will dramatically improve
America's energy security by significantly reducing the need for
imported oil. At the same time, these initiatives are key components
of the President's clean air and climate change strategies.
Background
on Today's Action
Fuel Cells are a Proven Technology: America's astronauts have
used fuel cells to generate electricity since the 1960s, but more
work is needed to make them cost-effective for use in cars, trucks,
homes or businesses. Using current technologies, it is too expensive
to produce, store, transport and distribute hydrogen fuel, or to build
fuel cell engines. Additional research and development is needed to
spur rapid commercialization of these technologies so they can provide
clean, domestically produced energy for transportation and other uses.
The Hydrogen Fuel Initiative and FreedomCAR Will Overcome Key Technical
and Cost Barriers:
- Lowering the cost of hydrogen: Currently, hydrogen is
four times as expensive to produce as gasoline (when produced
from its most affordable source, natural gas). The Hydrogen Fuel
Initiative seeks to lower that cost enough to make fuel cell cars
cost-competitive with conventional gasoline-powered vehicles by
2010; and to advance the methods of producing hydrogen from renewable
resources, nuclear energy, and even coal.
- Creating effective hydrogen storage: Current hydrogen
storage systems are inadequate for use in the wide range of vehicles
that consumers demand.
- Creating affordable hydrogen fuel cells: Currently, fuel
cells are ten times more expensive than internal combustion engines.
The FreedomCAR Initiative is working to reduce the cost to affordable
levels.
America's Energy Security is Threatened by Our Dependence on Foreign
Oil:
- America currently imports 55 percent of the oil it consumes;
that is expected to grow to 68 percent by 2025.
- Nearly all of our cars and trucks currently run on gasoline,
and they are the main reason America imports so much oil. Two-thirds
of the 20 million barrels of oil Americans use each day is used
for transportation; fuel cell vehicles offer the best hope of
dramatically reducing our dependence on foreign oil.
The Hydrogen Fuel Initiative Will Help Ensure America's Energy
Independence:
- Through the Hydrogen Fuel Initiative and FreedomCAR, the federal
government, automakers and energy companies will work together
to overcome the technological and financial barriers to the successful
development of commercially viable, emissions-free fuel cell vehicles
that require no foreign oil.
- Hydrogen is domestically available in abundant quantities as
a component of natural gas, coal, biomass, and even water.
- The Department of Energy estimates that the Hydrogen Fuel Initiative
and FreedomCAR Initiatives may reduce our demand for foreign petroleum
by over 11 million barrels per day by 2040. America currently
imports between 10 and 11 million barrels of oil daily.
Fuel Cells Will Improve Air Quality and Dramatically Reduce Greenhouse
Gas Emissions:
- Vehicles are a significant source of air pollution in America's
cities and urban corridors. Hydrogen fuel cells create electricity
to power cars without producing any pollution.
- The Hydrogen Fuel Initiative and FreedomCAR Initiatives may
reduce America's greenhouse gas emissions from transportation
alone by more than 500 million metric tons of carbon equivalent
each year by 2040. Additional emissions reductions could be achieved
by using fuel cells in other applications, such as generating
electricity for residential or commercial uses.
Hydrogen is the Key to a Clean Energy Future:
- It has the highest energy content per unit of weight of any
known fuel.
- When burned in an engine, hydrogen produces effectively zero
emissions; when powering a fuel cell, its only waste is pure water.
- Hydrogen can be produced from abundant domestic resources including
natural gas, coal, biomass, and even water.
- Combined with other technologies such as carbon capture and
storage, renewable energy and fusion energy, fuel cells could
make an emissions-free energy future possible.
The Hydrogen Fuel Initiative Complements President Bush's FreedomCAR
Initiative:
- In 2002, President Bush launched FreedomCAR, a partnership with
automakers to advance high-technology research needed to produce
practical, affordable hydrogen fuel cell vehicles that American
consumers will want to buy and drive.
- The Hydrogen Fuel Initiative will develop technologies for hydrogen
production and distribution infrastructure needed to power fuel
cell vehicles and stationary fuel cell power sources.
President Bush's Budget Provides Strong Support for the Hydrogen
Fuel Initiative and FreedomCAR:
- President Bush proposes $1.7 billion in funding for the Hydrogen
Fuel Initiative and FreedomCAR over the next five years, including
$720 million in new funding for the Hydrogen Fuel Initiative.
- The President's FY 2004 budget request for hydrogen and fuel cell
research and development and advanced automotive technologies through
the Hydrogen Fuel Initiative and FreedomCAR programs is $273 million.
www.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenfuel/
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