U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and Infrastructure Technologies Program – Hydrogen Production

Hydrogen Production R&D Activities

An important advantage to using hydrogen as an energy carrier is that it can be produced from a variety of abundant and domestic resources. DOE is evaluating and supporting the development of multiple production pathways that result in zero or near-zero greenhouse gas emissions. To meet initial lower volume needs with the least capital investment for the transition to a hydrogen economy, near-term research is focused on distributed production from natural gas or renewable liquid fuel reforming and small-scale water electrolysis. Other production pathways, such as photolytic and high-temperature thermochemical technologies, for example, require long-term research.

The following resources provide details about DOE-funded hydrogen production research. Some of these documents are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs. Download Adobe Reader.

• Annual Merit Review
• Annual Merit Review and Peer Evaluation Report
• Annual Progress Report
• Research Plans —
  • Hydrogen, Fuel Cells, and Infrastructure Technologies Multi-Year RD&D Plan — Production Chapter (PDF 924 KB)
  • Office of Fossil Energy Hydrogen from Coal RD&D Plan (PDF 1.8 MB)
  • Office of Nuclear Energy, Science, and Technology Nuclear Hydrogen R&D Plan (PDF 1.82 MB)

For more information about DOE hydrogen production activities, please see:

• Hydrogen Production Workshops
• Hydrogen Production Financial Opportunities