Hydrogen Newsletter Summer 1999: Decade of Progress

10th Annual U.S. Hydrogen Meeting Marks Decade of Progress for Hydrogen

By Robert L. Mauro, Executive Vice President, and Karen I. Miller, Program Director, National Hydrogen Association

The NHA’s 10th Annual U.S. Hydrogen Meeting, Hydrogen: Setting the Standard for a Global Energy System, was held 7-9 April 1999 in Vienna, Virginia, U.S.A., at the Sheraton Premier in Tysons Corner. Every year for the past decade, hydrogen advocates have come together as a community to share our collective progress in hydrogen and elicit comments about the hydrogen activities presented. Participation in the meeting continues to grow each year. There were more than 200 registered participants, plus many visitors to the Exhibits area and Education Invitational. In addition, NHA members and friends responded to the plea for support in light of uncertain DOE funding, allowing the NHA to meet sponsorship targets. We would like to thank the following NHA Annual Meeting Sponsors:

Gold Sponsors were NASA Kennedy Space Center, and U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Power Technologies.
Bronze Sponsors were California Air Resources Board, Ford Motor Company, South Coast Air Quality Management District.
Special Events Sponsors were Air Products and Chemicals, Ballard Generation Systems, Praxair, and Stuart Energy Systems.
Industry Reception Sponsors were Air Products & Chemicals, DCH Technology, Ford Motor Company, Nippon Sanso, and Praxair.

U.S. Congressman John Peterson enjoys ice cream made by Merit Academy students at the 10th U.S. Hydrogen Meeting. The ice cream maker was powered by a fuel cell.

There are several highlights of the meeting which are particularly noteworthy. They include adoption of the NHA Implementation Plan, a well-received keynote address from Congressional Representative John Peterson, (R-Pennsylvania), and participation from students of Merit Academy, who made ice cream for meeting participants from a hydrogen fuel cell (see story, NHA News, Winter 1999).

Implementation Plan

Several years ago, the NHA developed a standard by which to measure the progress of the hydrogen community in achieving its common purpose of a sustainable and renewable energy future. Implicitly, each of us is measuring what we see and hear against those goals embodied in the “Hydrogen Commercialization Plan.”

Implementation Plan Resolution

Whereas a hydrogen economy would provide us with energy security and a sustainable and renewable future;

Whereas the NHA’s Hydrogen Commercialization Plan is widely accepted throughout the hydrogen community and at DOE as containing goals which, if achieved, would bring about a renewable and sustainable hydrogen future;

Whereas the NHA’s Implementation Plan presents a series of activities and roles in those activities for government, industry and others which, if performed, would achieve the near-term goals of the Hydrogen Commercialization Plan;

Whereas the NHA recognizes there are other activities not contained in the Implementation Plan which will also promote the use of hydrogen;

Therefore, be it resolved that the NHA Membership ratifies the Hydrogen Implementation Plan and its members pledge to work toward realizing those activities contained in the Implementation Plan which will achieve the near-term goals of the Hydrogen Commercialization Plan in a timely manner.

This year we offered finer gradations to our measure of progress by developing an Implementation Plan to complement the Commercialization Plan. The Implementation Plan allowed the hydrogen community to measure its step-by-step progress in achieving the near-term milestones in the Hydrogen Commercialization Plan in both transportation (buses and fleet vehicles) and stationary power. This plan was adopted by unanimous consent at the Annual Membership Meeting held April 7 (see box, right).

Measuring Our Progress

The meeting covered the state of hydrogen in the U.S. and abroad on the first day, with an emphasis on U.S. Department of Energy and Hydrogen Technical Advisory Panel reports sent to the U.S. Congress and concluding with a presentation on the NHA’s proposed Implementation Plan. The second day began with a Keynote Address by U.S. Representative Peterson on factors that build support for hydrogen in Congress. Much of the rest of the day focused on the vision for, near-term markets for, and barriers to hydrogen.

The meeting moved to presenting key technologies, hydrogen system demonstrations, issues that drive hydrogen, and advanced energy concepts. It concluded with a roundtable discussion of controversial issues (largely transportation), such as liquid versus gaseous hydrogen or on-board storage versus reforming. Progress is being made in a number of areas and consensus is forming rather quickly on several of these issues.

Immediate Past President Venki Raman accepts an NHA Special Member Award for championing the NHA Hydrogen Implementation Plan. Presenting the award is Jay Laskin, left, the newly elected chair of the NHA Board, while Jeff Serfass, NHA President, looks on.

The meeting provided a forum to measure our progress in technical, economical, and political areas. It confirmed the need for outreach in order to educate the larger energy community, the public, and Congress. Hydrogen use will develop out of a popular consensus that realizes its development is an inevitable step in human development.

The advances we have already demonstrated bring the expectation of even greater progress, progress that the hydrogen community will share at the next Annual U.S. Hydrogen Meeting, to be held 29 February to 2 March 2000 in Vienna, Virginia, U.S.A.

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