PolyFuel announced that Congress and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have restored $2 million in program funding to the company. The three year, $3 million grant, originally awarded in late 2004, had been temporarily suspended in early 2006 due to US budgetary constraints after approximately $1 million had been funded. The program is designed to encourage the development of next-generation mobile fuel cell power supplies.
The DOE has identified fuel cell technology as one of the key solutions to U.S. dependence on foreign oil, and to reducing America’s "carbon footprint". In addition, fuel cells address the issue of "sustainable mobility" – the ability to power not only automobiles, but also mobile electronic devices, such as laptop computers, smart phones, PDAs, and cell phones – indefinitely. Because of a growing "runtime gap" – the difference between the burgeoning power needs of mobile devices and the ultimate ability of batteries to provide for them – the DOE believes that portable electronics will be one of the earliest commercial applications for fuel cells, and will help "catalyze" the adoption of fuel cell technology in the automotive and stationary power markets.
