Funding of hydrogen and fuel cells: Comparison Germany - USA

HyWeb, 00-03-14: Funding of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies by the German federal ministry for education and research (BMBF) and, since January 1^st, 1999, the German federal ministry for economics and technology (BMWi) has been reduced continuously duribng the last several years. Hydrogen funding had its peak in 19991 and has been reduced by almost a factor of 20 since. Fuel cell funding had its peak in 1995 and has fallen by 30% until 1999. For this year, an increase of fuel cell funding by 2 million EURO to 8.5 million EURO (=US-$), which is equivalent to the 1995 value, has been announced.

In the USA, federal hydrogen and fuel cell funding by the Department of Energy (DoE) has been increased from 80 million US-$ to 170 million US-$. Both, funding for hydrogen and for fuel cells have been increased. The figures do not include funding or financing by the Department of Defense.

The following figure shows the breakdown of funding for the various fuel cell types and for hydrogen:

The following transparancy shows the breakdown of funding in the USA:

The representation of funding in the USA has not been continued beyond 1996 as the programs have changed. The following transparency shows the funding between 1998 and 2000 (fiscal years):

In order to make the figures comparable, the following transparencies show a comparison of funding specific to the total population in the respective country. It is obvious that funding in the USA achieves significantly higher levels on a per capita basis (and on an absolute basis) compared to Germany.

Reinhold Wurster, Matthias Altmann

Sources:

G. Menzen, Entwicklung von Brennstoffzellen -- Teil des Programms 'Energieforschung und Energietechnologien' des BMWi", Tagungsband "Brennstoffzellen in der Energiewirtschaft", Bonn, 26./27. Januar 2000

N. P. Rossmeissl, L. A. Waltemath, The United States Department of Energy Hydrogen Program, Proceedings of the 11^th World Hydrogen Energy Conference, Stuttgart, 23-28 June 1996

World Fuel Cell Council, personal communication