opinion
Don’t Give Away Our Leadership in Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Technologies
- CFO
- Bing Energy Inc., Tallahassee, FL
Minardi
The Obama Administration’s recent decision to slash funding for fuel cell and hydrogen energy programs is confusing, illogical and ill-advised.
U.S. investment in fuel cells and hydrogen has been one of the most successful research, development and deployment programs in history. Fuel cells are at least twice as efficient, twice as durable and 10 times less expensive than they were 10 years ago.
Fuel cell technology is not a “future” technology, but rather one that is already being used by forward-thinking companies. Production of hydrogen-fueled vehicles is increasing annually with major automakers having hundreds of fuel cell electric vehicles on the road today.
My own company, Bing Energy Inc., has exclusive use of breakthrough technology pioneered at Florida State University that will create a new generation of hydrogen-powered fuel cells that are even less expensive, smaller, lighter and more durable than those on the market today. Because of this, fuel cells will be viable for mass-market use for the first time.
President Obama should not pick winners and losers in America’s clean energy economy, but that is exactly what the Administration is doing by eliminating funding for fuel cell and hydrogen programs.
In its Fiscal Year 2012 budget, the Administration proposed to reduce the Fuel Cell Technologies budget within the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy from $170.29 million to $100.45 million a reduction of more than 40%.
Within the Office of Fossil Energy, the budget for the Solid-State Energy Conversion Alliance, one of the most successful public-private partnerships in DOE’s history, was zeroed out. And all this while the overall budget for the DOE was increased by more than 12%.
Recent events show why America cannot continue relying on foreign countries to provide our energy. The recurring oil price spikes are going to continue in rate and severity as long as the U.S. is mainlining foreign crude oil.
To move away from our addiction to foreign energy sources, we must acknowledge the commercial successes of American engineered, American manufactured and domestically fueled power generation capabilities.
Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, more than $2.5 billion was allocated to the “smart grid.” That entire investment will yield no additional generating capacity, just a better, more efficient way to ration what we already have.
In contrast, by using a new generation of lower cost fuel cells as distributed energy generators, it is possible to level the load, add power to the grid, increase system efficiency, limit power outages and clean the air, all at the same time. The same fuel cell also can power a new fleet of American vehicles. A straightforward engineering and financial comparison will reveal the obvious: The fuel cell solution will be key to the distributed power solutions of the coming decades.
We cannot give away our leadership in fuel cell and hydrogen technologies to our strategic competitors China, Japan, Korea and Germany like we did with wind, solar and batteries. If the U.S. turns away now, we will be handing over billions of dollars of American hard work and innovation and tens of thousands of jobs to our competitors.
Just as America led the world in the Information Age, given the right support, we can lead in the Energy Age. The country that can harness the power of hydrogen will be the country with the most robust economy, the healthiest environment and the strongest national and energy security. The Administration’s decision to cut fuel cell and hydrogen energy programs doesn’t make sense, given its exemplary performance. I urge the Obama Administration to work with Congress to restore funding to fuel cell and hydrogen energy programs and ensure our place of leadership in this important arena.
Dean Minardi is the chief financial officer for Bing Energy Inc., a manufacturer of state-of-the-art components for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, in Tallahassee, Florida. Bing Energy Inc. is a member of the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association.