Backing up his commitment to a budget that provides strong funding for hydrogen and fuel cells, President Bush has included US$322 million in the Department of Energy’s fiscal 2006 budget for fuel cell and hydrogen technology programmes. This is an increase of $20.5 million over the $301.5 million Congress enacted for the current fiscal year, although the part of the budget set for distributed generation cells has been cut by $9 million. Fuel cell and hydrogen-related proposals in the DOE budget include:

    * fuel cell technologies (Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy): $84 million
    * hydrogen programme (Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy): $99 million
    * distributed generation fuel cells (Office of Fossil Energy): $65 million
    * additional funding in other DOE offices: $74 million; includes Office of Science programmes, hydrogen from coal, and
      hydrogen from nuclear power.

‘A hydrogen energy future means a stronger US economy and a safer world,’ said US Fuel Cell Council Executive Director Robert Rose. However, ‘While the overall commitment is most welcome, we will seek more funds for fuel cells for distributed generation,’ Rose said. ‘This program deserves an increase, not a cut.’