Commitment barriers to the hydrogen economy
21 March 2005 by Hydrogen PowerLeaders in the hydrogen industry speaking at the European hydrogen and fuel cell technology platform in Brussels believe commitment is the key barrier to the hydrogen economy. They go so far as to say “barriers to the hydrogen economy are no longer economic, technical or related to the development of infrastructure.” Commitment seems to mean public investment in hydrogen, whether in funds for construction of hydrogen filling stations or in support of hydrogen research.
Infrastructure is no longer a barrier to the hydrogen economy. [...] There are infrastructure challenges, but they are more about commitment and cooperation than technical or economic.
more public sector support is needed to ensure that opportunities are not missed. Specifically, … more funding for basic and pre-competitive research, support for demonstration projects, public procurement of first generation technologies, the development of harmonised safety standards, financial incentives for customers, and support for infrastructure development
Hydrogen is clearly “pre-competitive” at the present time. If you focus only on hydrogen the idea of public funding makes sense, however, barring unlimited public funds, money is invested where it will do the most good and many competing options are available in the transportation area, such as upgrading current infrastructure like bridges and highways, let alone areas outside transportation. Hydrogen has a huge future and long term may be the best solution for energy independence in all countries that choose to support it. In the near term, hydrogen, clearly, has formidable competition.
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