Three months after Congress received a report that noted obstacles remained to hydrogen fuel cells being a viable option for school buses, the U.S. Department of Energy went one step farther and cut all funds for research and development in the Obama Administration’s fiscal year 2010 budget.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu said hydrogen was not a wise use of taxpayer money at least for another two decades and would not be a part of his department’s $26.4 billion budget request, a figure complimented by $38.7 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Chu added that hydrogen was an impractical solution to the nation’s immediate need to rid itself of a foreign dependancy on oil, and any research performed is the role of private oil and gas companies and not that of the federal government. The FY 2010 budget was more than a half percentage point greater than the FY 2009 budget.
“The President’s budget for energy reflects his commitment to ending our dependence on foreign oil, restoring our scientific leadership and putting Americans back to work through investments in a new green energy economy,” Chu said. “It also demonstrates his commitment to using taxpayer dollars wisely — cutting spending on programs we don’t need so we can make strategic investments in our economic future.”
Instead, the largest funding amount would go to solar power, which would jump by 83 percent to $320 million. The budget also increases investments in low-emissions plug-in and hybrid vehicles, including ilithium-ion batteries and electric drive trains, in an effort to hit President Obama’s goal of 1 million plug-in hybrids on the nation’s roads by 2015. IC Bus makes a hybrid school bus that runs on a ultra low sulfur diesel and a plug-in electric drive train, while Thomas Built Buses developed a diesel-electric hybrid school bus. Other big gains were seen in wind and geothermal power.
The budget also called for eight energy innovation hubs at a cost of $280 million to encourage collaboration and team science and to connect research labs to the industrial world. Another $115 million was set aside the for “RE-ENERGYSE” program, of REgaining Our ENERGY Science and Engineering Edge, that would fund college, graduate and post-graduate students.
In February, the DOE released “Fuel Cell School Buses: Report to Congress,” which cited a lack of fuel cell availabilty as a major obstacle to the technology being ready for the school bus market as well as high costs and questions about durability.
