Groups push hydrogen to fuel S.C. economic growth

Groups push hydrogen to fuel S.C. economic growth

Aug 2 - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News - Kyle Stock The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C.

The Palmetto State is at the forefront of budding efforts to power cars and homes with hydrogen, rather than fossil fuels like oil and gas. Now, scientists, politicians and business-development officials are hoping the vanguard research can help accelerate the state's economy.

South Carolina lawmakers are making a strong push to win federal hydrogen-fuel research dollars. Meanwhile, a handful of officials from governments, universities and businesses are crisscrossing the state enlisting support from private-sector companies, venture capitalists, environmentalists and any other concerns that can help South Carolina go toe-to-toe with alternative-energy giants like California.

Harris Pastides, vice president for research and health sciences at the University of South Carolina, said the Palmetto State can compete with the six to 10 other states aggressively pursuing hydrogen-fuel projects if it presents a unified front.

"The purpose of these statewide forums is to kind of hold hands and acknowledge that no one institution in this state is big enough, strong enough or smart enough to win the day by themselves," Pastides said. "The biggie is the commitment to come together."

The concept of hydrogen power has become increasingly attractive in recent years. Hydrogen fuel cells work somewhat like a battery, and their only byproduct is water, as opposed to toxic chemicals and greenhouse gases emitted by burning fossil fuels. And there's some hope that liquid hydrogen -- the kind that can power engines -- can be produced and stored relatively cheaply. In other words, the technology has the potential to cut both pollution and the nation's dependence on foreign oil.

Since the start of his administration, President Bush has pushed Congress to allocate more federal dollars for hydrogen research. And the massive energy bill that went to Bush's desk last week calls for more than $3.5 billion to fund hydrogen-fuel initiatives in the next five years.

One of the loudest local advocates for hydrogen research is Tom Militello, executive director of Fuelcellsouth, a nonprofit association trying to promote the growth of a fuel cell market in the Southeast. Militello said the current state of hydrogen-fuel technology can be likened to computers in the 1960s. He said that hydrogen, like computers, eventually will play a part in every aspect of modern life.

"It could very well be 50 years away, but it could also be argued that we're right at the doorstep today," Militello said.

South Carolina has a number of attractive assets that will help in the push to grab a slice of the so-called hydrogen economy. The state is already a frontrunner in alternative-fuel research. USC professors have been working on fuel cells since 1996, and last fall the school won a $2.1 million federal grant for hydrogen-fuel research. It now has close to 50 professors and graduate students working on hydrogen-fuel projects.

The Savannah River National Laboratory just outside of Aiken employs hundreds of scientists who work with tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen used to make nuclear weapons more deadly. As nuclear weapons programs are downsized, the companies that run the Savannah River Site are trying to drum up more work.

BMW, which has a large factory in the Upstate, is partnering with Clemson University to develop cars that can run on hydrogen.

Neil McLean is managing efforts to coalesce South Carolina hydrogen research efforts as executive director of EngenuitySC, an economic-development group funded by USC and the city of Columbia. McLean said his first goal is to make sure word about South Carolina's hydrogen projects gets out.

"Whether it's in the private sector or Washington, D.C., a lot of folks don' t know that this is an area of strength for us," McLean said. "As a state, we go after a lot of industries. We need to. But it's real clear that this is an area where we have 80 percent of the assets that we need to be a leader in this." The other 20 percent is an intangible mix of venture-capital money, brilliant scientists, interested companies and, of course, federal dollars.

The goal, besides a cleaner environment and less volatile energy markets, is to grow companies around hydrogen-fuel technology, or at least get them to move here.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said he is in a good position to get more hydrogen funding pumped into South Carolina. Graham co-chairs the Senate Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Caucus, a position that helped him tuck $3.5 billion of research money into the energy bill last week.

"What Detroit was to the automotive industry, South Carolina can be to hydrogen," Graham said.

Pastides said the hardest part will be to convince businesses to get involved, because the technology may not lend itself to marketable products for years.

Pastides said he thinks it will be 15 or 20 years before hydrogen is widely used as a form of energy.

"There aren't that many businesses who are willing to spend big bucks on something with that kind of horizon," Pastides said. "But I do think we're going to eventually see it. The consequences of failure are too big for worldwide society."

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