Obama Cuts Hydrogen Research Funds

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

President Bush’s imaginatively-named “ Freedom Fuel Initiative” has been slashed by President Obama, cutting $100 million per year from hydrogen research funding according to DailyTech. Government spending on hydrogen fuel cell technology will drop from about $169 million per year to about $69 million, as a natural and healthy skepticism grows about hydrogen’s short-term potential. “The probability of deploying hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles in the next 10 to 20 years is low,” say Department of Energy spokesfolks, taking an early lead for understatement of the week.

Bush’s $1.2 billion hydrogen initiative was supposed to to make fuel cell cars cost-competitive with conventional gasoline-powered vehicles by 2010, a feat it has clearly failed to acomplish. Bush’s initiative had been widely criticized by environmental groups, typically for making too small of an investment. Energy Secretary Stephen Chu’s presentation (PDF) of the DOE’s $26.4 billion budget indicates a “moving away from funding vehicular hydrogen fuel cells to technologies with more immediate promise.” Of course the obvious beneficiary of this move is ethanol, which is only environmentally friendly in cellulosic, or biomass-derived form. Which still hasn’t been commercially produced, and will only make up half the bioethanol mandate by 2020.

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Benders Benders on May 11, 2009
    Perhaps, if you are talking about urban commuter cars that never go further than about half the vehicle’s range from home. A trip I can easily drive in a day would take 2-3 days if I have to stop and charge the car for 3-4 hours every couple of hundred miles. All they’d have to do to accomodate fuel cell cars is add a hydrogen “pump” to existing gas stations. Problem is you'd need a huge tank to store enough energy in the form of hydrogen to make it 300-400 miles (I'm ignoring any potential advancements in metal hydride tech). And the hydrogen BMW 7 series runs out of fuel in a week. Without driving it. The hydrogen heats up, expands, and needs to be vented.
  • Buzzliteyear Buzzliteyear on May 11, 2009

    I am convinced that hydrogen-powered vehicles were the alternative energy equivalent of a Blue Ribbon Commission (look like you're doing something without actually doing it). The two probable outcomes were: 1) It doesn't work, so the status quo is preserved. 2) It does work, which means that coal, nuclear and natural gas industries benefit from all of the additional electrical demand, and oil refineries stay in the game because they have have already built the infrastructure to strip hydrogen off of methane molecules. We might just as well have spent the money on Stephen Colbert's mesquite-powered car http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0501-30.htm

  • Charly Charly on May 11, 2009

    A fuel cell powered car is an electric car. It needs a battery (for opening the door with your wireless key etc.). regenerate braking is "trivial" with an electric so the question is only how big the battery will be. As fuel cell cost a lot so my quess is Prius big. ps. Is the Clarity a hybrid?

  • NanoHydroFusion NanoHydroFusion on May 14, 2009

    Sad day indeed for us all. Looks like someone got to Chu with a payoff already, just like with everyone else in government when it comes to funding energy alternatives. Dropping funding on hydrogen will prove to be the biggest mistake Obama will make in first year. In fact, when hydrogen does prove itself by years end, Obama will end up with mud on his face along with Chu. lol

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