Hydrogen
Fuel Technology: A Cleaner and More Secure Energy Future
 More
than a year after President Bush announced a $1.2 billion
initiative to support the fuel, infrastructure, and technical
challenges to “bring hydrogen and fuel
cell technology from the laboratory to the showroom,” the
Administration remains committed to these goals.
In April,
the Department of Energy (DOE) selected 28 partners through
a competitive process to fund hydrogen research projects
to overcome initial obstacles to the hydrogen economy. Nearly
$350 million—leveraging an additional $225 million
of private funds—was awarded to national labs, industry
and academia.
The new DOE-backed projects focus on four areas:
conducting hydrogen vehicle and infrastructure learning demonstrations
to provide performance, cost and durability data on fuel
cell vehicle and hydrogen fueling infrastructure; developing
affordable and durable hydrogen fuel cells (initially focusing
on consumer electronic devices, auxiliary power and off-road
applications); creating effective hydrogen storage; and developing
a Hydrogen Education Campaign to build the next generation
workforce, engage students in science and technology, and
overcome barriers to public acceptance of fuel cell technology.
These projects were paid for with funds appropriated by Congress
for Fiscal Year (FY) 2004.
The other proposals announced
by the President are largely a restatement of requests made
in the Administration’s
FY 2005 budget. The centerpieces of these initiatives are
the FreedomCar and Hydrogen Fuel programs. FreedomCar is
a public-private partnership among DOE, its labs, U.S. auto
manufacturers and energy companies to commercialize hydrogen
powered fuel cell vehicles by 2020. (Although the Administration
had originally announced a target date of 2015, that date
apparently has slipped, although the policy statement does
not explain this change). The President’s FY 2005 budget,
released in February, requested $318 million across all agencies
to support the FreedomCar, Hydrogen Fuel and related programs.
This is almost a $70 million increase over FY 2004 funding
levels.
For more information on any of these Administration initiatives,
and how they may affect your organization, please contact
us at info@techvision21.com or
(202) 263-0168.
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