Renewable Hydrogen Forum: Program Overview
HISTORY:
In April, 2002, the National Hydrogen Energy Roadmap Workshop
was held in Washington DC. This effort was to identify the
"top priority research and development" efforts that the
Department of Energy would support. The workshop was dominated by
representatives from fossil and nuclear fuel industry. This
working group, not surprisingly, concluded that the barrier to the
production of hydrogen was carbon sequestration. Further they
recommended that to solve this challenge an expanded research
effort should be launched funded 25% by industry and 75% by our
government. Interestingly, this same group recommended that
funding for hydrogen production through electrolysis, the area
where renewable energy has the most current potential, should be
funded primarily by industry.
The American Solar Energy Society protested this direction with
US DOE and asked that the renewable energy community be offered
the opportunity to provide an alternative production perspective
based in sustainable energy options. We were formally invited to
do so.
GOAL:
ASES and our partners are convinced that the current debate on
the production of hydrogen does not adequately represent the
technological promise and current state of development of hydrogen
derived from renewable energy resources. The ability to create
hydrogen from solar, wind and biomass are not afforded the
opportunity to compete evenly for today's research dollars. We
feel that solar, wind and other renewable energy sources are not
only cost competitive in the near term, they are the best resource
for the long term because of their benign effect on the
environment.
We are planning to bring the top scientists, businesses,
researchers and economists involved in hydrogen and renewable
energy sources. This event will be held at the headquarters of the
World Resource Institute on April 10-11, 2003.
Our objective is to clearly define what the current and
projected potential is for renewable-derived hydrogen and what the
benefits would be to society if our hydrogen future was fueled
primarily by renewables versus fossil and nuclear options.
PROGRAM:
The program will begin on Thursday, April 10 with a media
luncheon, where the keynote speakers will discuss the state of the
technology for renewably-derived hydrogen and the health
implications of expanded fossil fuel production. This luncheon
will serve to educate the media on the health issues of increasing
fossil fuel production and the technological state of the science
for renewably-derived hydrogen. Following the luncheon, the
balance of the afternoon will hold sessions on the state of the
science for renewably-derived hydrogen. Friday, April 11 will
present two sessions in the morning, one will deal with the future
research promise of renewably-derived hydrogen; the other will
discuss the environmental issues related to the production of
hydrogen. Finally, after lunch, the final session of the forum
will present a discussion of the economics of producing hydrogen
from renewables.
OUTPUT
The Forum presentations will be transcribed into a formal
printed document, a White Paper on Renewably-derived Hydrogen. A
written Executive Summary will be included in this document. The
White Paper will be distributed to the research and scientific
communities, US DOE, Congress, and other national and
international energy policy makers.
