Executive Order Highlights Use of Fuel Cells

(Washington, DC) – March 20, 2015 – The Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association welcomes yesterday's Executive Order from President Obama to increase sustainability efforts at federal agencies and the specific inclusion of fuel cells as a technology option to achieve the set goals.

The directive includes targets for cutting energy use, reducing the amount of water use, decreasing greenhouse gas emissions from federal vehicles, increasing the amount of clean energy generation and zero-emission vehicles in the federal fleet. "Fuel cells can help the government achieve every target goal on that list," says Morry Markowitz, President of the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association.

"Fuel cells are not only finding success with customers in the private sector, this clean technology is also providing power to government buildings, wastewater treatment plants and other municipal sites, helping save taxpayer dollars while lowering emissions and ensuring reliable service to citizens," says Markowitz. "Local governments are already using fuel cells to power public buildings, city halls, jails, and even transit buses, it seems like an easy transition to the federal scale."

A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, with water and useful heat as its only by-products. They offer a unique combination of benefits ideally suited for a number of applications, including providing reliable and resilient power to buildings and in zero-emission vehicles. Fuel cells can operate in tandem or independent of the electric grid with minimal water use and are also used by customers to generate power in conjunction with other conventional domestic and renewable energy sources or fuels, such as batteries, turbines, wind, solar, biogas and existing natural gas lines.

More than 150 MW of fuel cells are currently installed in the U.S., including at city halls in New York City and New Haven, Connecticut. The U.S. is the leader in fuel cell materials handling equipment, telecommunications backup power systems, and in the number of stationary fuel cell power systems supplying power to buildings and data centers. The U.S. is also home to major fuel cell manufacturers and key component suppliers, cutting-edge university research and partnerships, and numerous patents.

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The Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Energy Association (FCHEA) is the trade association for the fuel cell and hydrogen energy industry, representing fuel cell manufacturers, automobile companies, hydrogen and fuel distributors, components and systems manufacturers, government laboratories, and trade associations. Visit us online at www.fchea.org.