Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick and two other members of Congress from Pennsylvania have introduced a bill to promote research and development of clean hydrogen technology.
Fitzpatrick, a three-term Republican from Middletown Township, introduced the Clean Hydrogen Energy Act on Wednesday, along with Congressman Mike Doyle and Congressman Conor Lamb, both Democrats from Western Pennsylvania.
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If the process can be perfected and scaled, hydrogen, which is combined with oxygen in a fuel cell, can produce a clean, renewable fuel that can be used for transportation, electricity generation, and industrial applications. Unlike most fuels, clean hydrogen does not create greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change, while the common current process creates greenhouse emissions.
The offices of the three congressmen said the bill would create a hydrogen research and development program to look at how to reduce cost, best use it, and store it; it would develop four hubs in geographically diverse areas with focuses on power generation, transportation, home and commercial heating, and industry; it would direct the U.S. Secretary of Energy to create a national strategy and roadmap to facilitate widespread production, processing, delivery, storage, and use of clean hydrogen; invest in driving down the price of hydrogen with a goal of making it below $2 per kilogram; and provide grants for creation of manufacturing centers for the industry.
“Providing funding for fuel cell and hydrogen technology paves the way for our nation’s clean energy future,” Fitzpatrick said in a statement. “We must commit to investing in clean energy technologies to reduce our carbon emissions while creating new American job opportunities. Now is the time to pass this much-needed legislation which advances the production, distribution, and storage of clean hydrogen.”
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Lamb said clean hydrogen “represents an exciting opportunity to advance our energy, industrial, and transportation sectors for the 21st century – creating jobs while protecting our environment.”
The federal government has already committed $52.5 million to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Hydrogen Energy Earthshot to spur research and development for hydrogen that is developed without producing carbon.
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