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Dear Fuel Cell Professional, The fuel cell industry is at a critical stage. Recent breakthroughs in fuel cell design have shown significant improvements in performance and durability; thousands of fuel cell products are in the hands of early consumers; hundreds of hydrogen fuel cell passenger vehicles are already on the roads and several auto manufacturers will commence mass production by 2015 [how can anyone who has followed the fuel cell industry over the past ten years possibly believe this?]; more than 600 organizations are engaged in fuel cell or component research, design, development and deployment in the United States alone. Fuel cells are competing against batteries in early markets today and analysis, backed up by real-world performance, shows the superiority of hydrogen fuel cell passenger vehicles over battery-driven passenger vehicles in performance, cost and lower green house gas emissions. [Battery proponents would certainly disagree. So does the Secretary of Energy . . .] Yet the Department of Energy has chosen to cut funding of hydrogen fuel cell programs by more than two thirds in its FY 2010 budget, including 100% of the budget for passenger vehicles and 100% of the budget for early market support. The Secretary of the Department of Energy, Dr. Chu, has justified this decision by stating that four miracles are required to make hydrogen fuel cell vehicles commercially viable in the 2015 time frame. The Secretary's opinion is not only excessively pessimistic, it ignores the growing mountain of practical and empirical evidence showing hydrogen fuel cell technology must be pursued. [So what exactly is the USFCC saying? That Chu, a Nobel laureate in physics and former director of a National Lab, is incapable of weighing the conclusions of the various reports on the near term prospects of the various technologies? That he doesn't understand the economics or the thermodynamics? That he is deliberately acting against the interests of the American people in wanting to fund research on batteries and not automotive fuel cells?? That Chu has somehow been bought by the battery advocates???] Billions of dollars have been invested [wasted?] and extraordinary results have been achieved by organizations like yours on hydrogen fuel cell initiatives. If Congress fails to restore these cuts, we feel it would disrupt private investment and waste the sizable resources already committed to [wasted on?] bringing these technologies to market. It would also seriously undermine our country’s ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save and create new U.S. jobs and compete internationally in sustainable energy and transportation. Please visit: http://capwiz.com/fuelcells/issues/alert/?alertid=13421676&PROCESS=Take+Action to send a message to your lawmakers that you think funding for hydrogen fuel cell programs should be restored. [This form letter can be modified to say anything the reader wants.] We can’t afford to abandon these efforts [Ballard did years ago] when we are on the verge of commercializing the most promising technologies to address our energy-related challenges. Thank you for your support. -Bud
DeFlaviis
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