Realistic Hydrogen

The American Physical Society’s Panel on Public Affairs (POPA) is urging policymakers in Washington, DC, to focus more on basic scientific research and less on demonstration projects when deciding how to proceed with the Bush administration’s $1.2 billion hydrogen initiative. The administration’s 2003 initiative envisions “the commercial use of fuel cells in transportation … by 2012.” Congress has set a goal for the auto industry of “safe, affordable, and technically viable hydrogen fuel cell vehicles” by 2015. In a policy paper that echoes a US Department of Energy report published in May 2003, POPA says the fundamental problem with the hydrogen initiative is that a large performance gap exists between the current state of the technology and the final goals.

According to the APS paper, “The most promising hydrogen-engine technologies require factors of 10 to 100 improvement in cost and performance in order to be competitive [with fossil fuels].” The policy paper, developed by POPA’s energy subcommittee, also notes that, given the enormous hurdles involved in creating a hydrogen-based transportation system, it would be “prudent to maintain strong research programs into technologies that serve as bridges between the current fossil-fuel economy and any future hydrogen economy.” The APS policy papers are intended to inform congressional debate “with the perspectives of physicists working in the relevant issue areas.”