President's Hydrogen Fuel Initiative: A Clean and Secure Energy Future
 "A simple chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen generates energy, which can be used to power a car producing only water, not exhaust fumes. With a new national commitment, our scientists and engineers will overcome obstacles to taking these cars from laboratory to showroom so that the first car driven by a child born today could be powered by hydrogen, and pollution-free. Join me in this important innovation to make our air significantly cleaner, and our country much less dependent on foreign sources of energy."
— President Bush, State of the Union Address, January 28, 2003
The President's Hydrogen Fuel Initiative: A Clean and Secure Energy Future
In his 2003 State of the Union Address, President Bush announced a $1.2 billion Hydrogen Fuel Initiative to reverse America's growing dependence on foreign oil by developing the technology needed for commercially viable hydrogen-powered fuel cells—a way to power cars, trucks, homes, and businesses that produces no pollution and no greenhouse gases. Through partnerships with the private sector, the President's Hydrogen Fuel Initiative seeks to develop hydrogen, fuel cell, and infrastructure technologies needed to make it practical and cost-effective for large numbers of Americans to choose to use fuel cell vehicles by 2020. The initiative will dramatically improve America's energy security by significantly reducing the need for imported oil. At the same time, it is a key component of the President's clean air and climate change strategies.
President Bush's Budget Provides Strong Support for the President's Hydrogen Fuel Initiative:
- The FY 2004 appropriation for hydrogen and fuel cell research and development through the Hydrogen Fuel Initiative is $159 million.
- The President's FY 2005 budget request for hydrogen and fuel cell activities in support of the Hydrogen Fuel Initiative is $227 million.
 Why Hydrogen and Fuel Cells?
America's Energy Security Is Threatened by Our Dependence on Foreign Oil:
- America currently imports 55 percent of the oil it consumes; that is expected to grow to 68 percent by 2025.
- Nearly all of our cars and trucks currently run on gasoline, and they are the main reason America imports so much oil. Two-thirds of the 20 million barrels of oil Americans use each day is used for transportation.
- Hydrogen has the highest energy content per unit of weight of any known fuel.
- Hydrogen can be produced from abundant domestic energy resources including fossil, nuclear, and renewable.
- The best way to reduce our Nation's dependence on imported oil in the short-term—over the next 10 to 20 years—is through the increased use of gasoline hybrid-electric vehicles, which are becoming available to consumers today. The U.S. Department of Energy is also pursuing other advanced combustion technologies to achieve even greater efficiency improvements.
- In the long-term, however, increases in fuel efficiency alone will not be enough. Using domestically-produced hydrogen to power transportation and other applications can significantly reduce our oil use by 2040. This timeframe considers the time needed for hydrogen fuel cell technology to replace conventional technologies in our Nation's vehicle inventory, after hydrogen fuel cell vehicles begin to reach the mass consumer market in 2020
Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Are Key to a Clean Energy Future:
- Vehicles are a significant source of air pollution in America's cities and urban corridors.
- When burned in an engine, hydrogen produces effectively zero emissions; when powering a fuel cell, its only by-product is pure water.
- Renewable- and nuclear-based hydrogen production technologies offer the promise of zero emissions. With proven carbon capture and storage technologies, hydrogen production using our Nation's abundant coal resources will also make a carbon emissions-free future possible.
- The President's Hydrogen Fuel Initiative may reduce America's greenhouse gas emissions from transportation alone by more than 500 million metric tons of carbon equivalent each year by 2040—approximately equivalent to the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced by the transportation sector in 2001. Additional emissions reductions could be achieved by using fuel cells in other applications, such as generating electricity for residential or commercial uses.
 Hydrogen, Like Any Other Fuel, Is Safe When Handled Properly
- Hydrogen has been used safely in chemical and metallurgical applications, the food industry, and the space program for many years.
- By their nature, all fuels have some degree of danger associated with them, since they can burn or even explode when handled improperly. Hydrogen is non-toxic and because it is much lighter than air, it dissipates rapidly when it is released, allowing for relatively rapid dispersal of the fuel in case of a leak.
- Some of hydrogen's properties require additional engineering controls to ensure its safe use by consumers.
Federal Support Can Accelerate Development
- America's astronauts have used fuel cells to generate electricity since the 1960s, but more research is needed to make them durable and cost-effective for use in cars, trucks, homes, or businesses.
- Using current technologies, it is too expensive to produce, store, transport, and distribute hydrogen fuel, or to build fuel cell engines. Additional research and development is needed to meet consumer requirements and enable rapid commercialization so that hydrogen and fuel cell technologies can provide clean domestically-produced energy for transportation and other uses.
About the President's Hydrogen Fuel Initiative
- In 2002, Energy Secretary Abraham launched FreedomCAR, a partnership with automakers to advance high-technology research needed to produce practical, affordable hydrogen fuel cell vehicles that American consumers will want to buy and drive.
- The President's Hydrogen Fuel Initiative and the FreedomCAR Partnership will develop, in parallel, technologies for hybrid components, fuel cells, and hydrogen production and distribution infrastructure needed to power fuel cell vehicles.
- Most advanced automotive technologies (for example, lightweight materials and batteries) developed under the FreedomCAR Partnership can be used to accelerate deployment of gasoline-electric hybrids as well as advance development of fuel cell vehicles.
- Under the FreedomCAR Partnership, the Department also continues support for research into some advanced combustion engine technologies that have the potential to significantly improve fuel economy in the near-term.
It Will Overcome Key Technical and Cost Barriers:
- Lowering the cost of hydrogen: Currently, hydrogen is three to four times as expensive to produce as gasoline (when produced from its most affordable source, natural gas). The President's Hydrogen Fuel Initiative seeks to lower that cost enough to make hydrogen cost-competitive with gasoline by 2010, and to advance the methods of producing hydrogen from renewable resources, nuclear energy, and coal with carbon capture and sequestration.
- Creating effective hydrogen storage: Current hydrogen storage systems are inadequate for use in the wide range of vehicles that consumers demand. The President's Hydrogen Fuel Initiative supports the exploratory research and development needed to overcome the grand challenge for hydrogen storage: to store the amount of hydrogen required for a conventional driving range (>300 miles), within the vehicular constraints of weight, volume, efficiency, safety, and cost.
- Creating affordable hydrogen fuel cells: Currently, fuel cells are up to ten times more expensive than internal combustion engines. The President's Hydrogen Fuel Initiative is working to reduce the cost to affordable levels.
It Will Help Ensure America's Energy Independence:
- Through the President's Hydrogen Fuel Initiative, the Federal government, automotive and energy industries, universities, and national laboratories are working together to overcome the technological and financial barriers to the successful development of commercially viable, emissions-free fuel cell vehicles that require no foreign oil.
- If the research is successful and market introduction begins in 2020, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have the potential to reduce our demand for oil by over 11 million barrels per day by 2040. America currently imports between 10 and 11 million barrels of oil daily.
For more information on the President's initiatives, please visit www.whitehouse.gov
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