BRUSSELS, BELGIUM -- U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham today delivered a keynote address to the European Commission’s (EC) Conference of the High Level Group on Hydrogen and Fuel Cell (HLG-HFC) technologies, in which he noted the emphasis that both the United States and the EC have placed in their respective hydrogen initiatives as well as their mutual cooperation and achievements in the area.

"From his first days in office, President Bush has focused on the significant challenges posed by our national energy and environmental needs," Secretary Abraham said. "Like many of the nations represented here, the United States has made hydrogen research and development a top priority."

In 2002, the EC established the HLG-HFC, composed of EC auto and transport companies, utilities research institutes, and policy makers to advance the development of the hydrogen economy. In the United States, President Bush established his Hydrogen Fuel Initiative to concurrently develop hydrogen infrastructure and hydrogen fuel cell-powered vehicles, and introduced the FreedomCAR program to develop automotive systems that would use hydrogen as a fuel.

"Today we confront the challenge of providing stable supplies of fuel to satisfy the demands of citizens seeking the mobility and freedom that an automobile provides," Secretary Abraham told the EU conference today. "We are so committed that over the next five years the Department of Energy will invest $1.7 billion in research and development of hydrogen vehicles and hydrogen infrastructure technologies."

"Hydrogen can be produced using renewable, fossil, and nuclear energy," Abraham noted. "We are looking at all of these options. But we intend that all our hydrogen will eventually be produced using emissions-free technologies. In our most recent budget, we propose spending roughly 50 percent on hydrogen production from renewable resources."

"We believe our work on hydrogen and the work being done elsewhere around the world is perhaps the most significant game-changing endeavor the energy sector will see in our lifetimes.

And working together with international partners, we can leverage scarce resources and advance the schedule for research, development, and deployment of hydrogen production, storage, transport, and end-use technologies."

In his address, Secretary Abraham stressed the value of international partnerships in achieving progress in the advance of scientific knowledge and technology applications in the energy area and called on the EC and its member countries to participate in a Ministerial-level conference this Fall to formally establish the International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy.

"Such a Partnership would provide the best mechanism to efficiently organize, evaluate and coordinate multinational research and development programs that advance the transition to a global hydrogen economy," Secretary Abraham said. "I am convinced the Partnership will speed the day when consumers everywhere can purchase a competitively priced hydrogen powered car."

Secretary Abraham cited the challenges ahead to the participants in such an endeavor, including devotion of substantial financial resources, but stated that the promise of hydrogen was too great to forego investing in its potential.

"The question before us is this," Secretary Abraham concluded, "Will we move forward, each of us, alone, in a manner that guarantees frustration and needless duplication? Or will we band together to significantly increase our chances of realizing the full potential of hydrogen? I have every confidence we can commit ourselves to a multinational approach."

In other developments during the conference, Secretary Abraham and European Union Commissioner for Research Phillipe Busquin signed the Fuel Cell Annex, the first addition to the U.S.-EU Non-Nuclear Energy Cooperation Agreement that the two signed in May 2001. The Fuel Cell annex lays out the framework within which the two entities will collaborate on hydrogen research, and will help both the U.S. and the EC leverage their approaches to achieving advances towards a hydrogen-based economy.

Secretary Abraham’s Speech

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