Hydrogen hopes: Can they restore funding for fuel cells?
Energy Secretary Steven Chu "zeroed out" hydrogen funding, but a small band of advocates want to restore the cuts.
A Honda FCX fuel-cell car: The end of U.S. funding? (Credit: Honda)
Also offering complaints, though not about hydrogen, was Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who complained that Chu was not returning her calls. More to the point, J. Byron McCormick, GM’s former fuel-cell chief, resigned from a DOE hydrogen advisory group when the funding cut was announced. “As I thought about the decision, how it was worded, and the fact that the budget was zeroed, I didn’t feel I could in any way appear to be supportive,” he said.
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Cash for Clunkers 2009 is already generating some controversy, as many hopefuls are wondering just how they're going to be able to participate. Well, the Cash for Clunkers 2009 website says right on the website – which is located at www.cars.gov – that it isn't in effect yet. Cash for Clunkers is a program that was created by President Obama, as a car allowance rebate system, wherein people trade in their used vehicles.... More
Enter your comI would really like to see the EPA-OBD II Annual Vehicle Emissions Inspection Law closely examined, and changed.As it stands right now, it is entirely possible for any Gasoline powered Vehicle, from 1996 to the present, to fail it's Emissions Inspection, for not emitting enough Polluting Exhaust Emissions ! All such Vehicles have on board Oxygen [O2] Exhaust Sensors.These O2 Sensors are set up to detect a level of Polluting Exhaust Emissions that would indicate that Gasoline is.... More
the car is beautiful
I agree that cutting funding was short-sighted and feeds into the currently over-hyped expectations of what batteries alone can do for this transition from mechanical engines and liquid fuels to electric motors powered by the 'integration' of batteries, fuel cells and capacitors. Cars are not iPods, and not one device will be enough. I cringe at the notion that 'plugging into' a wall socket is somehow going to be cheap/easy or solve our problems. It's a mistake on every level from design,.... More
Who you gonna believe? An administration that rejected science at every turn in its decision making and supported H2 because they thought it was "cool", or one that actually looks at the thermodynamics and economics of proposed solutions? A Nobel laureate in physics whose only interest here is the best use of the money, or a special interest group like the "hydrogen community" whose livelihood depends on endless taxpayer funding?
H2 is a waste of time/resources. If the automakers want to.... More
