Hydrogen Fuel Cell Funding Restored

Congress pushes back against the Obama administration's decision to stop research into hydrogen-powered vehicles.

Kevin Bullis 07/09/2009

5 Comments

In its 2010 budget, the Obama administration put an end to funding for hydrogen fuel cell vehicle research, but Congress is putting that money back in. In the last two days, the relevant committees in both the House and the Senate have issued their versions of the Department of Energy budget. Both reduce investment in renewable energy compared with the president's budget, and direct money to research into hydrogen programs that the administration deemed too far away from reality to merit funding.

In an interview with Technology Review, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles would require four "miracles" to become practical. Chu supports research into better biofuels and batteries instead.

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jabailo

6 Comments

949 Days Ago
07/09/2009

Capital Already There

It's nice to see money restored for basic research, but quite frankly, private industry is really carrying the ball at this point.

Fuel cells and hydrogen are the only practical way out of Co2 emissions. Billions from government will be dwarfed compared to the Trillions in profit that will be generated from the "Hydronet" -- the 21st equivalent of the Internet...with loosely coupled individuals able to buy, sell and innovate around Hydrogen.

joelsapp

21 Comments

949 Days Ago
07/09/2009

Hydrogen not the way out of C02

Hydrogen is not the way out of our C02 mess. It is a mechanism for storing energy not a fuel source. Any hydrogen produced will be done so primarily from Coal and Gas in the US. Since the process to make it is so inefficient (not to mention transportation), it would be smarter to use batteries to store the power than hydrogen.

Even if all the hydrogen is produced from Wind, Hydro and Solar, it would still be more efficient to use electric cars (batteries).

EarthSyncHub.com

2 Comments

945 Days Ago
07/13/2009

Re: Hydrogen not the way out of C02

A world powered solely by solar, wind and batteries is a limitation vs. a solution. The battery cars described by joelsapp do not exist (neither to H2FCVs in any great numbers). Miniaturizing any technology and making it mobile is a innovation constraint. Driving fewer POVs makes sense though, and so do fuel cell buses.

I have discovered that someone named Joseph Romm has inappropriately used past accomplishments in the Clinton Administration to poo-poo fuel cells without evidence or accurate argumentation. I counter folks like Romm here:

http://earthsynchub.com/esmonitor/oped/032609/addressing_the_fuel_cell_naysayers/

Hydrogen come from natural gas, water and opportunity fuels (waste to energy). Coal would be a poor solution as well are running low on that fossil fuel as well. Using what NG we have left much more efficiently, close to big energy users, would be smart and fuel cells do that. Fuel cells are therefore one of most versatile 24/7/365 all-weather power supplies. Solar and wind alone cannot supply replace all our power generation systems for a similar reliability solution, which has been a big worry for planners for years.

One of the least understood, yet highly successful track record areas for fuel cells, are stationary CHP applications. The following DOE EERE report statement helps to describe the usefulness of more CHP:

DOE-EERE statement on CHP

DOE-EERE/ORNL states that if 20% of the US stationary energy supply was powered via CHP, it would equal taking 154 million cars of the road. Huge?

“CHP, or cogeneration, has been around in one form or another for more than 100 years; it is proven, not speculative. Despite this proven track record, CHP remains underutilized and is one of the most compelling sources of energy efficiency that could, with even modest investments, move the Nation strongly toward greater energy security and a cleaner environment. Indeed, ramping up CHP to account for 20 percent of US electricity capacity—several European countries have already exceeded this level—would be equivalent to the CO2 savings of taking 154 million cars off the road.

If the United States adopted high-deployment policies to achieve 20 percent of generation capacity from CHP by 2030, it could save an estimated 5.3 quadrillion Btu (Quads) of fuel annually, the equivalent of nearly half the total energy currently consumed by US households. Cumulatively through 2030, such policies could also generate $234 billion in new investments and create nearly 1 million new highly-skilled, technical jobs throughout the United States. CO2 emissions could be reduced by more than 800 million metric tons (MMT) per year, the equivalent of taking more than half of the current passenger vehicles in the US off the road. In this 20 percent scenario, over 60 percent of the projected increase in CO2 emissions between now and 2030 could be avoided.”

- COMBINED HEAT AND POWER:
Effective Energy Solutions for a Sustainable Future, ORNL, 2008

TooMany

125 Comments

947 Days Ago
07/11/2009

Fossil Fuel Industry

This is all about the power of the coal and oil interests in Congress. These industries know there is no existing practical method for generating hydrogen except through chemical processing of fossil fuels. The amount of fuel burned and CO2 generated would actually go up with a hydrogen enconomy based on fossil fuels.

The hydrogen push started during the last administration is baloney and Chu made the right call. We really need to get these interests out of Congress. That's up to us.

Jim Horwitz

1 Comment

945 Days Ago
07/13/2009

Fund viable technologies

Dr. Chu since the MIT interviewed has been presented with enough scientific documentation, including much research from his own Dept. of Energy, that automotive fuel cells no longer require any miracles, let alone four. It is true that President Bush's H2 support was driven by big oil's prospect of owning the massive transition from gasoline highway to hydrogen highway, but the multiplicity of methods for producing inexpensive hydrogen from distributed renewable sources as well all types of biofuels in addition to natural gas limits their oppuortunity to monopolize a future h2 economy. The prospect of tens of thousands of fast charging (5 minutes vs. 5 hours)stations and small reliable batteries providing a 300 mile driving range by even 2020 certainly requies a number of miracles. A battery or super cap and fuel cell hybrid vehicle with an all eletric drive train is manageable in the near future - check out the specifications of the Proterra Hybrid Bus developed under the auspices of our own DoE.