SHELL: Customers should
drive H economy

"I've been to [hydrogen] conferences where I have been the only person to use the word 'customer,'" Shell Hydrogen CEO Jeremy Bentham, told the inaugural meeting of the International Partnership for the Hydrogen Economy in the nation's capital.
     He sees a danger in trying to build the hydrogen economy "from just one angle -- trying to command and control," rather than stimulate demand commercially.
     Government and industry leaders that want to "champion hydrogen as a mass-market fuel," will only succeed if they stay focused on "moments of truth -- the moment for billions of customers around the world when they choose to use hydrogen and fuel cell applications in their everyday lives."
     The meeting was called by Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham and drew government ministers and energy executives "from across the globe," wrote Shell.
     Making the choice of hydrogen affordable will take "breakthroughs," Bentham warned, "and government action to stimulate development and mitigate early commercial risk."
     But he doesn't see government subsidy as the road to success in managing the huge costs of building the hydrogen infrastructure.
     His firm calculated that the initial investment needed to supply just 2% of cars in Europe with hydrogen by 2020 would be $20 billion.
     Bentham is aware of the significant commercial risks in large-scale investments and believes "strongly that, within the right framework, commercial activity will ultimately be the most effective engine of transformation."
     The conference was at the Omni Shoreham. (Story originally published in Restructuring Today 11/20/03)