Hydrogen power has been on the back burner for years. But now, things are heating up, as signaled by President George W. Bush's State of the Union Address Jan. 28, 2003. The president said, "Tonight I am proposing $1.2 billion in research funding so that America can lead the world in developing clean, hydrogen-powered automobiles ... the first car driven by a child today could be powered by hydrogen, and pollution-free."

U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Energy Subcommittee, has requested the federal government to invest $6.5 billion over 10 years for hydrogen fuel cells for vehicles.

That hydrogen power may be in our future is further pointed up by:

• Hydrogen power cars were pushed at the recent Geneva Auto Show.
• General Motors Corp.'s prediction that it would start mass-producing fuel cell powered vehicles by 2010. GM claims it has already spent nearly a billion dollars trying to get such vehicles ready for the road.
• Shell and GM's announcement March 5 that they would bring six cars powered by hydrogen fuel cells and two hydrogen refueling pumps to Washington, D.C., in an effort to make policymakers more aware of the technology.
• Oil companies like Shell being interested in providing hydrogen refueling stations because, as Donald Huberts, chief executive officer of Shell Hydrogen, said: "We want to be in the business for the long term. Hydrogen is the fuel of the future."
• Honda opening, in July 2001, the first hydrogen production and fueling station at its research and development center in Torrance, Calif.

Virtually all of the automobile manufacturers are researching the possibility of hydrogen-powered vehicles. One of the first to show off a fleet of hydrogen-powered luxury cars was BMW. Hydrogen-powered Honda fuel cell vehicles have been operational since 1999. A hydrogen-powered car made by GM was rolled out in June 2000. Ford Motor Co. debuted its prototype hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicle in October 2000. And DaimlerChrysler AG is teamed with a German delivery company in a two-year field test on a fuel cell vehicle.

GM and Toyota, which are collaborating on hybrid and fuel cell vehicles, agree hydrogen is the only fuel that has the potential to significantly increase vehicle proficiency and reduce vehicle emissions.

As Bush told the nation, a simple chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen generates electrical energy, which can be used to power a vehicle, spewing out only water, not exhaust fumes. The president said it would not only make our air significantly cleaner, it would make our country much less dependent on foreign sources of energy.

The whole prospect is exciting. The lack of smog-causing emissions and reducing our dependency on foreign oil makes the technology an attractive alternative to gasoline engines.

But achieving a hydrogen-powered future is faced with many obstacles - not the least of which is developing a network that would carry hydrogen to the nation's gas stations. Building plants to produce hydrogen and a delivery network to get it to fuel stations would be costly.

Even though automakers can build hydrogen-powered vehicles, which they have already demonstrated, they're of little use unless there are refueling stations available. Currently there are only four hydrogen service stations in the United States (two in California, one in Las Vegas and one in Phoenix).

According to the American Petroleum Institute, there are approximately 180,000 gas stations in the United States. The California Fuel Cell Partnership estimates the nation would need 500 hydrogen filling stations as part of the hydrogen infrastructure to serve an initial fuel-cell vehicle fleet size of 40,000 vehicles. At a cost-per-station estimated at $450,000, the financial commitment to shifting to a hydrogen economy is staggering.

There are a lot of other challenges too. For example, a gas-powered engine on a $20,000 vehicle costs about $3,000. A hydrogen fuel-cell engine on the same vehicle would cost $30,000.

Also a problem is storing hydrogen in the vehicle. It must be compressed and heavy, expensive metal is required to keep it from escaping its storage tank.

Along with all of these obstacles, there are safety concerns. Hydrogen requires less of a spark to ignite than does gasoline. Safety-minded experts recall the 1937 explosion of the hydrogen-filled Hindenberg dirigible.

Precaution prompts some technicians to wear anti-static lab coats when refilling a tank.

No doubt about it, shop owners and technicians would be faced with safety issues and learning new technology to be able to "fix" hydrogen-powered vehicles. With the new technology would come challenges.

In spite of all these concerns, it looks like we may be moving to a hydrogen economy.

Shop owners would do well to "stay tuned" as this exciting new technology evolves.

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