INDUSTRY OVERVIEW

Our future global energy system promises to be a very different one from the one we know today where we rely greatly on relatively few energy sources and technologies. A world-wide effort, albeit somewhat fragmented, is underway to understand where our future energy will come from, and to develop the technologies and infrastructures to get there. What’s more, the realization is with us that new energy sources and technologies must meet meaningful sustainability criteria for the sake of future generations.

Hydrogen and fuel cells are destined to play an important part in this future energy system. Not only do fuel cells offer a compelling energy solution on their own, but they also represent an enabling technology that can extract the full potential from other renewable energy technologies, such as wind and solar. In addition, hydrogen fuel can be produced from many sources – in fact, almost all regions of the world have some means of making this fuel of the future.

There are many who believe that hydrogen and fuel cell technologies are is still far from being ready for commercial markets – the reasons most commonly cited are high cost, unproven durabilities, and lack of hydrogen infrastructure. This belief exists in large part because a great deal of attention has always been focused on the huge automobile market. People tend to overlook the earlier opportunities that are presenting themselves in other smaller markets that have potential to be viable early adopters of hydrogen and fuel cells. By effectively engaging and penetrating these early adopting markets with increasing volumes of product, the path to tomorrow’s larger commercial markets is becoming clearer. True, the timeline is not really known, but the inevitability is.