In his 2003 State of the Union address, President Bush announced a $1.2 billion initiative to reverse America's growing dependence on foreign oil by developing the technology for commercially viable hydrogen-powered fuel cells to power cars, trucks, homes and businesses with no pollution or greenhouse gases.

"Tonight I am proposing $1.2 billion in research funding so that America can lead the world in developing clean, hydrogen-power automobiles." White House Links: President's State of the Union Address Hydrogen Initiative Fact Sheet Read the President's remarks on the Hydrogen Initiative

A key element of the President's hydrogen initiative is to develop advanced hydrogen production and delivery technologies that can supply tomorrow's energy and transportation systems with affordable hydrogen with significantly reduced or near-zero emissions. Fossil fuels can provide the transition to a hydrogen economy by delivering a mid-term source of hydrogen. With carbon sequestration coal could be used to produce hydrogen for many decades without adding to concerns over the buildup of carbon gases in the atmosphere.

Hydrogen from Fossil Fuels - Today's Technology

Today's technologies can produce and deliver enough hydrogen to meet the demands of the nation's refineries and chemical industries. But to meet the expectations of President Bush's hydrogen initiative and supply the much larger volumes needed for a hydrogen-fueled transportation sector, the costs of producing, delivering and storing hydrogen from coal must be reduced. As a starting point for describing the Department of Energy's efforts to achieve these cost reductions, this section describes the state-of-the-art of current technology for producing hydrogen from fossil fuels:

• Today's Hydrogen Production Industry

Hydrogen from Coal - Future Technologies

America's abundant coal resources offer an attractive mid-term option for producing the large quantities of hydrogen that will be required to fuel the nation's energy needs. Hydrogen canl be produced in coal gasification facilities capable of co-producing electric power and other high-value fuels and chemicals to provide flexibility in product slate.

• Hydrogen from Coal R&D

Hydrogen Delivery

Today, most hydrogen used in refineries and chemical facilities is produced on site. In the future, other options may be necessary to deliver hydrogen to customers.

• Future Hydrogen Delivery Options