The US Fuel Cell Council (USFCC, Washington, DC) announced that 2004 Fuel Cell Seminar Award winner Robert Rose proposed a new partnership on fuel cells and hydrogen that would invest $60 billion in public funds in the United States over the next 15 years for purchases, purchase subsidies and incentives, and accelerated research and demonstrations.
The annual program cost would be $4 billion. To pay for the program, Rose proposed dedicating the revenue from a small fee on any one of several current energy carriers, or via a vehicle registration fee. The partnership would set market penetration targets of eight million fuel cell vehicles and 20 GW of fuel cell electric generating capacity by 2020.
Rose made the proposal at the 2004 Fuel Cell Seminar where he received the Seminar Award in recognition of his support for the research, development and demonstration of fuel cell technology. Rose is founder and executive director of the USFCC. He is also founder and executive director of the Breakthrough Technologies Institute, which manages the Fuel Cells 2000 education project. Rose emphasized that the speech reflects his own views and had not been endorsed by either organization.
