Detroit and Michigan have been slammed unmercifully by the global restructuring of the auto industry. The declining market share, outsourcing and job cuts are sending shock waves through the supply base and the local communities that support it.

Things will get better for General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and some of their suppliers. The catch is, things will just get better. The fat times we knew growing up are gone, thanks to fundamental shifts in the auto industry and the global economy.

That’s the scenario facing the city, the state and their businesses, but there is a way back to prosperity. Business leaders, educators and public officials need to become the catalysts for change and create the hydrogen economy right here.

You don’t need to be a tree-hugger to understand that the hydrogen economy will happen. It must. We are simply too dependent on fossil fuel, politically, economically and environmentally. In the not-too-distant future, the carbon-based energy model will fall away and be replaced by a hydrogen-based model. The only questions are: When? How? Where? Who?

As Jeremy Rifkin, author of The Hydrogen Economy, says, if the auto industry doesn’t invent the future of hydrogen, someone else will. That someone will dictate the terms, which could be disastrous for automakers, suppliers, Detroit and Southeast Michigan.

That’s why the city and state must work with the auto industry to make this region the center of automotive hydrogen research, technology, engineering and production. If not, we can sit and watch as another region — or country — boldly grabs the opportunity, leaving Southeast Michigan to fight for table scraps.

Metaldyne Corp. CEO Tim Leuliette envisions a Manhattan Project-type initiative that involves automakers, suppliers and universities, as well as state, local and federal agencies. Leuliette is talking about a huge initiative that would fundamentally reduce this nation’s reliance on fossil fuels, especially imported petroleum.

Ford CEO Bill Ford predicts the first step for hydrogen will be automobiles with internal-combustion engines that burn hydrogen as fuel, followed eventually by fuel cells, which generate electric current from a chemical reaction caused by combining hydrogen and oxygen, two abundant elements.

GM is pushing ahead, aiming straight for fuel cells, and has a fuel-cell prototype called the Sequel. The Chrysler Group and most other automakers also are racing to develop viable fuel-cell vehicles.

However, the industry’s competitive juices can be like an antibody that stifles cooperation, so this can’t be just a Big Three initiative if it is to succeed.

Four years ago, the Michigan Economic Development Corp. paid for a study by the Center for Automotive Research that came up with five strong recommendations for making Michigan a leading fuel-cell manufacturer. Sadly, next to nothing has been done.

Now is the time to get moving, while interest in alternative energy sources is percolating in Lansing and Washington. Gov. Jennifer Granholm and President Bush have proposed funding to develop alternative energy sources. But that’s only a start.

The work that is done has to be a coalition among all stakeholders. Beyond the product-development work being done by automakers and suppliers, R&D is needed on the production, transportation, storage and delivery of hydrogen. Much work still needs to be done on making the infrastructure happen and getting the public to understand the possibilities fuel cells offer.

For example, fuel-cell automobiles can become minigenerators that can change the way consumers and businesses use the power grid.

The possibilities are boundless, but Michigan politicians are still hashing out how far the state goes down this path. Alternative-energy technologies are included in dueling technology bond proposals in the Legislature: A $2 billion plan from Gov. Jennifer Granholm and a $1 billion Republican plan that passed the Senate June 9.

Alternative energy is the future. If the Legislature approves the technology bond issue, it could be on the ballot for voter approval this fall with investments as soon as next year. Politicians should not foul up this opportunity.

Yes, budgets are tight. Yes, politicians will bicker. Yes, the universities will fight over the dollars to get this done. But we can’t let those things stand in the way of a strong future for Detroit and Michigan. The best way to predict the future is to invent it. Let’s get to it.

Edward Lapham is executive editor of Automotive News, a sister publication to Crain’s Detroit Business.

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