Only in the last week, South Carolina announced that it is seeking to become the U. S. center for hydrogen fuel cells, and BMW revealed that it will power some of its high-end model cars with hydrogen.
If we were driving pure hydrogen automobiles, that automobile would actually help clean up the air because the air coming out of the exhaust would be cleaner than the air going into the engine intake.
Democrats believe we should renew our commitment to creating tax credits for hybrid vehicles, increasing fuel efficiency standards for cars, and investing in ethanol, biofuel, hydrogen fuel cell technology.
So I submit to my colleagues here today that hydrogen is not as far away as we think it is.
I don't believe that a hydrogen economy depends on a carbon economy at all.
As we explore ways to bring price relief and bolster our country's energy independence, one significant energy source has emerged as a potential solution, hydrogen fuel cells.
I believe that water will one day be employed as fuel, that hydrogen and oxygen which constitute it, used singly or together, will furnish an inexhaustible source of heat and light, of an intensity of which coal is not capable.
And when these advances are made, hydrogen can fill critical energy needs beyond transportation. Hydrogen can also be used to heat and generate electricity for our homes. The future possibilities of this energy source are enormous.
Detroit is saying that the hydrogen vehicle is the vehicle of the future. But it's 15 years from now.
Fuel cell vehicles run on clean-burning hydrogen and are three times more efficient than the traditional combustible engine.
For example, a breakthrough in better batteries could supplant hydrogen. Better solar cells could replace or win out in this race to the fuel of the future. Those, I see, as the three big competitors: hydrogen, solar cells and then better batteries.
Hydrogen holds great promise to meet many of our future energy needs, and it addresses national security and our environmental concerns. Hydrogen is the simplest, most abundant element in the universe.
America is addicted to oil...We must also change how we power our automobiles. We will increase our research in better batteries for hybrid and electric cars and in pollution-free cars that run on hydrogen. We will also fund additional research in cutting-edge methods of producing ethanol, not just from corn but from wood chips and stalks or switch grass.
With a new national commitment, our scientists and engineers will overcome obstacles to taking these [hydrogen fuel cell] cars from laboratory to showroom, so that the first car driven by a child born today could be powered by hydrogen, and pollution-free.
