In order to meet President Bush’s Hydrogen Fuel Initiative, which calls for replacing fossil fuels in passenger vehicles by 2040, the country would have to produce 150 million tons of hydrogen annually. That means that, while New York is off to a good start, we’d need to build another 6.2 million equivalent plants.

The Water Cycle: New Hydropower Plant

Perhaps the biggest obstacle to the ever-elusive hydrogen economy is a lack of critical infrastructure, but after an announcement last week by Governor George E. Pataki, the country may be $21 million closer to overcoming it. New York has earmarked the considerable chunk of change for a hydropower-to-hydrogen demonstration project—one of the world's largest of its kind. A pair of hydrogen-generation and fueling stations will absorb about a third of the cost. But because there's no point in producing hydrogen without a market, the state is pouring another $13.5 million into fuel-cell vehicles.

Unlike the chief method of hydrogen production today, which uses natural gas and emits heat-trapping carbon dioxide, hydropower offers the advantage of actually easing the problem of global warming. As with other alternatives such as solar and wind energy, hydropower uses cleanly produced electricity to split water into its constituent parts—hydrogen and oxygen. Fuel cells in cars like Chevy’s Sequel and Honda’s FCX take advantage of a mirror process to convert hydrogen gas back into electric power.

Though sites have yet to be selected, the New York Power Authority anticipates the two hydrogen-generation stations will be operational by the end of 2007 and, two years later, producing up to 120 kg of hydrogen a day. In order to meet President Bush’s Hydrogen Fuel Initiative, which calls for replacing fossil fuels in passenger vehicles by 2040, the country would have to produce 150 million tons of hydrogen annually. That means that, while New York is off to a good start, we’d need to build another 6.2 million equivalent plants.