Development of new hydrogen technologies might be at a halt due to economic troubles. Obama’s administration has cut $100 million from the hydrogen fuel cell program for 2010. However that does not mean no money was given, the budget was just trimmed like many Americans have had to do. Instead of $168 million received last year for the hydrogen fuel cell research in 2009, it has been nipped to only $68 million. This is not the first time hydrogen research has had to step aside for the government, in 2008 the Bush administration also canceled the FutureGen power plant that would have generated hydrogen and eliminate carbon dioxide emissions. Dramatic cut but what do we do from here and what can we accomplish with this?
It is predicted that the idea of having hydrogen cars as the choice of vehicle is out of the way for the next 10 to 20 years. The prototype cars have been proven too expensive and the fund is only enough to assist in research of hydrogen cells dealt with devices to use within buildings. The scale has changed but many buildings and homes use fuel cells today.
Besides the budget cut, the infrastructure of the hydrogen fuel research has been lacking and had a weak foundation to start with. Steven Chu, Obama’s energy secretary mentioned that the product of hydrogen fueled cars are decades away , right now we must concentrate on research that will give us immediate energy saving results. So maybe the budget cut isn’t such a bad idea or is it just delaying further advancement by too much? In the end, we need a reality check. The
Sources:
R.I.P. hydrogen economy? Obama cuts hydrogen car funding By: David Biello
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/05/obama-hydrogen-cars.php
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