NHA’s Annual Meeting Held in April, 200 Attend

by Susan Leach, Vice President, National Hydrogen Association
The NHA’s 7th Annual U.S. Hydrogen Meeting was held 2-4 April 1996 at the Radisson Mark Plaza Hotel in Alexandria, Virginia (U.S.A.). The meeting was attended by 200 representatives from industry, small business, government, and research organizations from the U.S. and around the world.

[PHOTO OF ALLAN HOFFMAN AMONG ATTENDEES AT NHA ANNUAL MEETING 1996]

Allan Hoffman, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Utility Technologies at the U.S. Department of Energy—here enjoying another presentation with AM7 attendees—chaired the meeting’s first General Session on “National Hydrogen Energy Policies.”

This year’s theme was Planning for a Hydrogen Future. The NHA vision for a hydrogen future is that of a robust new energy sector with nonpolluting applications in transportation, industry, commercial, and residential energy markets. As hydrogen energy applications become more widespread, new business opportunities will be created. The manner in which these new markets will be created, capital availability, and the role that policymakers and regulators will play were examined over the course of the meeting.

A recurring theme was the importance of building a constituency, both political and public. A film crew from Hydrogen 2000 was on hand to capture the meeting highlights for the upcoming hydrogen documentary, Element One. The documentary—sponsored by more than a dozen entities including three countries, California (U.S.A.), and many NHA members—promises to have a powerful impact on raising public awareness of hydrogen, creating in turn a new political constituency.

A Hydrogen Future will become a reality with the help of today’s students. This year’s meeting featured a special educational event demonstrating clean energy technologies to 40 secondary school science students. The NHA also hosted students from Wellington High School in Florida (U.S.A.), finalists in Chrysler Corporation’s “Build Your Dream Vehicle” Competition. At Wednesday’s luncheon, they presented their design for the Phoenix, a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell vehicle.

[PHOTO OF AMORY LOVINS ADDRESSING NHA ANNUAL MEETING 1996]

Dr. Amory Lovins, cofounder and director of the Rocky Mountain Institute (right), describes to NHA 7th Annual Meeting attendees how transformations underway in automotive technology may accelerate the transition to a solar hydrogen economy.

This year’s featured speakers included U.S. Representative Robert Walker, House Science Committee Chairman and sponsor of the Hydrogen Future Act; Amory Lovins, Director of the Rocky Mountain Institute; and James Cannon, author of Harnessing Hydrogen: The Key to Sustainable Transportation.

Other distinguished speakers included Adam Serchuck of the Center for Global Change; Tom Widmer, President and CEO of Thermo Savannah River Ventures, Inc., a spin-off of Massachusetts (U.S.A.) Institute of Technology’s Thermoelectron Corp.; Henry Kelly, Assistant Director of Technology, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy; and Scott Sklar, Executive Director of Solar Energy Industries Association.

The meeting was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, the South Coast Air Quality Management District, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). ©1996. All Rights Reserved. A Publication of the National Hydrogen Association.
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