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Why Hydrogen?The President’s Hydrogen Initiative is committed towards research, development, and demonstration of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies for our national energy security, environmental commitment, and economic stability. To learn more about these, click on the following links: Economics
On January 28, 2003, President Bush stated in his State of the Union message that "a simple chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen generates energy, which can be used to power a car producing only water, and not exhaust fumes." The President’s Hydrogen Fuel Initiative sets out an aggressive timeline to overcome barriers to the creation of a hydrogen economy. One significant technical challenge to the hydrogen economy is the development of hydrogen storage enabling passenger vehicles to achieve greater than a 300-mile range without compromising passenger space, cargo capacity or vehicle safety. In the near-term, high-pressure/cryogenic tanks are the available technology. For the longer term, research is focused on developing new low-pressure materials-based technologies, such as metal hydrides, chemical hydrides and nanostructured carbon-based sorbents for storing hydrogen. As shown below, current hydrogen vehicle storage technologies require significantly larger volumes to achieve a vehicle range comparable to conventional gasoline tanks. For more details and updates on hydrogen storage requirements, please see targets for on-board hydrogen storage systems. Other technical challenges facing a hydrogen economy include fuel cell durability, cost, and tolerance to impurities, as well as developing and improving hydrogen production, distribution, and refueling technologies. Relative Volume Needed for Hydrogen Storage
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Increases in public and private spending since the mid-1990s reflect the growing worldwide interest in hydrogen and fuel cell technology. Governments in Europe, Asia, and Canada are investing in hydrogen and fuel cell research, development, and demonstration. 
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