DOE Embraces Hydrogen Future
by Laura Waltemath,
Education Task Leader, DOE Hydrogen Outreach Team
In the late 1800s, science fiction writer Jules Verne envisioned
a world powered by hydrogen. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has embraced
a similar vision that “hydrogen will join electricity in the 21st Century
as a primary energy carrier in the nation’s energy future.” DOE
has supported a hydrogen research and development program for nearly 20
years. As the use of fossil-based energy becomes limited by scarcity or
environmental concerns, hydrogen will be introduced as the sustainable,
clean energy carrier of the future.
Hydrogen used as an energy source presents substantial
environmental and efficiency benefits when compared to conventional fossil-based
energy sources. It is these advantages, in addition to the production of
hydrogen from sustainable, renewable, domestic resources, that are the driving
forces behind the hydrogen movement. Despite the environmental and efficiency
benefits, the introduction of hydrogen to current energy markets is cost-prohibitive
when compared to conventional energy.
The goal of DOE’s hydrogen R&D; program
is to develop practical, cost-effective hydrogen technologies and systems
that will reduce the environmental impacts of energy use and promote renewable
energy resource penetration into the national energy mix. The program funds
core research on long-term, high-payoff technologies, such as photoelectrochemical
production, to meet large-scale future hydrogen demands. And to complement
the long-term research, the program supports nearer-term, lower-risk, industry-led
technology development efforts to introduce cost-competitive hydrogen in
niche markets.
The introduction of hydrogen technologies in
near-term markets will be critical to the long-term transition to hydrogen
energy. The California market for zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) is a prime
market for introducing hydrogen technologies. Recognizing this, the program
has entered into a collaborative project with California’s South Coast
Air Quality Management District, the City of Palm Desert (California, U.S.A.),
industry, universities, and national laboratories for the design and testing
of a transportation infrastructure to support a fleet of hydrogen fuel cell
vehicles. Many of the technologies developed by DOE’s hydrogen program
will be scaled-up and validated in Palm Desert. This three-year project
will produce data on the storage system and refueling infrastructure, and
efficiency, emissions, and operating costs of the vehicles.
Demonstrating the environmental and efficiency
benefits of hydrogen in niche markets may begin breaking the cost barriers
to the use of hydrogen energy.
As the Hydrogen Program ushers in the hydrogen
age, as Jules Verne had foreseen, should we now begin preparing for the
discovery of dinosaurs at the center of the Earth? ©1996.
All Rights Reserved. A Publication of the National
Hydrogen Association.
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