The legislation, H.R. 5143, the H-Prize Act of 2006, ties in with
energy legislation that House Republican Leadership plans to move within
the next couple weeks to address rising fuel prices.
Testifying were Dr. Peter Diamandis, Chairman of the X Prize Foundation, a
nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering innovation through the use
of competitions; Dr. David Bodde, Director of Innovation and Public Policy
at Clemson University's International Center for Automotive Research; Dr.
David L. Greene, corporate fellow of Oak Ridge National Laboratory; and
Mr. Phillip Baxley, President of Shell Hydrogen, L.L.C.
"Suddenly, the whole nation is focused on gas prices and our 'addiction to
oil' and the Congress is in a panic trying to figure out how to respond,"
said Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY). "Our options in
the immediate future are limited, but our options in the mid- and
long-term are not. The hydrogen economy holds out great promise but it
also presents great hurdles. We are pretty far away from knowing how to
create, store, distribute and use hydrogen cleanly and efficiently. We
need to devote all the ingenuity we can muster to attack this problem.
Boehlert said H.R. 5143, introduced by Chairman Inglis, is carefully
crafted both to encourage ongoing work that can lead to incremental
improvements in hydrogen technology, and to draw more scientists and
engineers into trying to remove the highest hurdles on the hydrogen
highway.
The Inglis H-Prize bill is modeled after the Ansari X Prize, which spurred
the first privately funded suborbital human spaceflight. The H-Prize bill
includes three prize categories:
-- Technological advancements: Four $1 million prizes awarded annually in
the categories of hydrogen production, storage, distribution and
utilization.
-- Prototypes: One $4 million prize awarded every other year for the
creation of a working hydrogen vehicle prototype.
-- Transformation technologies: A maximum $100 million prize -- $10
million in cash and up to $90 million in matching funds for private
capital -- would be awarded for changes in hydrogen technologies that meet
or exceed objective criteria in production and distribution to the
consumer.
H.R. 5143 would direct the Secretary of Energy to contract with a private
foundation or panel that would include experts in the field to establish
criteria for the prizes and administer the prize contest. The size of the
prize did concern some lawmakers; Energy Subcommittee Chairman Judy
Biggert (R-IL) questioned the size of the $100 million grand prize.
"Isn't a billion or trillion dollar market prize enough? Isn't this enough
of an incentive to encourage scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and
energy companies large and small to invest in the development of fuel
cells and new and innovative ways to produce and store hydrogen?" Biggert
added, "I am in no way convinced that we need to spend $100 million on
such a prize...The prize of all prizes -- the Nobel Prize -- is only a
$1.3 million award."
H.R. 5143 is cosponsored by Chairman Boehlert (R-NY), Environment,
Technology, and Standards Subcommittee Chairman Vernon Ehlers (R-MI), and
Science Committee Members Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD), Rep. Michael McCaul
(R-TX), and Rep. Daniel Lipinski (D-IL).
The Committee intends to mark up the legislation at both the subcommittee
and Full Committee level in May. H.R. 5143 could be considered by the
House within weeks.