Overview of international hydrogen energy development

The development of hydrogen energy in foreign countries has not simply stayed in the field of technology, due to the important role of hydrogen energy system technology in the national economy, resulting in the concept of a new economic model of "hydrogen economy". Recently, some experts have proposed a new stage of development towards a "hydrogen civilisation" in the future. However, the progress of commercialisation of hydrogen energy is still very slow. As far as developed countries are concerned, even though the technical conditions for hydrogen energy have matured, it is still in the demonstration stage.

At present, countries around the world have launched fuel-cell-powered vehicles, can be used for laptop computers, players, mobile phones, small fuel cells and other products using hydrogen energy has been very much. At present, there are 22 hydrogen refuelling stations in Europe, while more have been established in the United States and Japan. The United States Federal Government plans to invest US$1.2 billion in 2004-2008 to implement the "Action Plan for Research, Development and Demonstration of Hydrogen Energy Technologies". Canada started to implement the "Hydrogen Highway" programme in April 2004, which is to establish five hydrogen refuelling stations for fuel cell vehicles on the 120 km highway from Vancouver to Whistler, the host city of the 2010 Winter Olympics, by 2010, and to have hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to undertake the transportation of people between Vancouver Airport and Whistler during the 2010 Winter Olympics. In 2003, the European Commission announced that it would invest €2 billion in research on hydrogen-related technologies over the next five years and formulated a roadmap for the development of hydrogen energy and fuel cells in the EU. The Nordic country of Iceland, in co-operation with companies such as Dyke and Shell, hopes to replace oil with hydrogen in the country's buses, cars and fishing boats within the next 30-40 years, thus making the island nation a preliminary realisation of a hydrogen economy. Japan launched two projects in 1993 and plans to invest $3 billion by 2020 to build a global energy network for the efficient supply, delivery and use of hydrogen energy, to put 5 million fuel cell vehicles on the market and to build more than 2,000 hydrogen refuelling stations in the near future.