he future hydrogen highway has an entrance ramp in Gainesville.
Visitors look at a BMW clean-energy concept car powered by hydrogen on display at the Auto Shanghai 2005 exhibition Saturday in Shanghai, China.

As Florida officials tout hydrogen as the state's clean fuel of tomorrow, and lawmakers consider legislation that would increase incentives for hydrogen-based companies, researchers at the University of Florida are exploring ways to turn political promises into technical reality.

Yogi Goswami, director of UF's Solar Energy and Conversion Laboratory, is working with a U.S. Department of Energy grant to develop an environmentally friendly way to split water's chemistry, a process he says could make zero-emission vehicles commonplace on the nation's roads.

"This cycle splits water into hydrogen and oxygen," Goswami explained at his lab last week. "You can use electricity, but it turns out it's a lot more expensive. We're looking at other ways to split water," including the use of sunlight.

University scientists also are working with NASA to develop new ways to transport and store hydrogen, a vital component in shuttle missions. Findings from that research could one day be transferred to terrestrial applications, Goswami said.

At present, most hydrogen produced for fuel cells or internal combustion is made from reforming natural gas, a process that uses steam to convert methane into hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Intense heat and chemical reactions also are used to separate the element from water, algae - even sugar.

The result is an effective fuel that, when mixed with oxygen in fuel cells, is as safe as gasoline to burn. If pure hydrogen is used, the only byproducts are heat and water.

But there is a downside to the current technology: While hydrogen-powered vehicles are cleaner than conventional cars, the greenhouse gas emissions released in the fuel's production minimizes the benefits, energy experts say.

"Hydrogen is as clean as the resource you use to produce it," Goswami said. "If you use coal to produce electricity, then producing hydrogen is as dirty as coal."

Despite the environmental hurdles, hydrogen already is powering some commercial vehicles, and state and local governments in California, New York and Florida have spent millions on experimental fleets.

Earlier this year, Florida's first hydrogen fueling station broke ground in Orange County near the Orlando International Airport. The station, which will fuel eight 12-passenger shuttle busses, is expected to be completed in 2006.

Two years before that, Gov. Jeb Bush launched H2 Florida to accelerate research statewide. All told, Florida has committed $3 million to hydrogen research, and the federal government has chipped in another $21.5 million.

Even with the financial commitments, however, the day consumers are given the choice between a gas-guzzling Hummer and a hydrogen Toyota is years away.

It could be a decade before "we will know if we will have a hydrogen economy," Goswami said. "There are hydrogen cars for sale now, but the only buyers are governments because it's too expensive."

There are some who hope hydrogen's availability remains elusive, at least in the short term.

The Sierra Club, for one, has said state and local governments should hold off promoting the fuel until a greener production method is developed. The group says better air quality could be achieved by cleaning conventional cars and promoting hybrid-electric vehicles.

"The Bush administration's hydrogen proposal is like a nicotine patch that increases cigarette cravings," the Sierra Club's director of global warming and energy, Dan Becker, said last year of the president's affection for the fuel.

"Instead of producing hydrogen with clean, renewable energy sources like wind and solar power, the Bush administration wants to rely on polluting coal plants and nuclear power."

Despite such criticism, officials in Florida are hedging their bets that hydrogen will serve as the backbone of the state's economic and environmental future.

A Department of Environmental Protection-backed piece of legislation being debated in Tallahassee would create the Hydrogen Energy Technologies Act, giving hydrogen-producing companies an incentive to relocate to the state. The act also would increase grant funding for research and make it more attractive for investor-owned utilities to invest in the fuel.

"We have eight universities that have over 106 research projects going on in hydrogen, a lot focused on the clean generation of the fuel," DEP Deputy Secretary Alan Bedwell said.

"The ultimate goal is the renewable generation of hydrogen," Bedwell said.

But DEP officials say they don't want to wait until "green" research catches up with the technology. Vehicles already on the market, while not as clean as the ones Goswami says are theoretically possible, will get the ball rolling, Bedwell said.

"There are so many aspects of this technology that are complex," the deputy secretary said. "We still need to move forward with the technology in its current state so we can refine it."

Such promises may prove beneficial for the state in the long run, but some in Gainesville say North Florida could be bypassed by the much-touted "Hydrogen Highway."

Dave Bruderly, an area engineer and long-time advocate of clean fuels, said he sees no reason DEP isn't pushing harder for hydrogen in Alachua County.

"The world energy systems are going to change to be hydrogen and electricity," Bruderly said, and hydrogen "should be coming to Gainesville."

"People in this town would embrace this technology," he said.

Greg Bruno can be reached at 374-5026 or greg.bruno@gvillesun.com .

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