If a hydrogen economy is to develop within the next 25 to 50 years, lower cost options for producing hydrogen from a wide variety of sources must be aggressively pursued. Today, most hydrogen in the United States, and about half of the world's hydrogen supply, is produced from natural gas. Although natural gas will likely provide the earliest affordable feedstock for hydrogen, today's costs are prohibitively expensive.   To bring down costs, the Department of Energy has embarked on an aggressive research effort that includes new efforts to develop innovative "breakthrough" technologies for extracting fuel-grade hydrogen from natural gas and coal, as well as producing hydrogen through the use of nuclear energy technology

The Department of Energy is working to build a new energy economy based on hydrogen.  The Offices of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology, and Fossil Energy conduct research into hydrogen-related technologies to meet this need.

The DOE Hydrogen, Fuel Cells & Infrastructure Technologies Program integrates activities in hydrogen production, storage, and delivery with transportation and stationary fuel cell activities.   It responds to several recommendations in the President's National Energy Policy, including the development of next generation technologies, establishment of an education campaign that communicates the potential benefits, and better integration of subprograms in hydrogen, fuel cells, and distributed energy.