Last Friday, our intern Brian attended a Senate briefing on Capitol Hill called - Solving the Market’s Dilemmas-Energy Infrastructure for Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles. Read about the event after the jump.

Halfway through the 8th Fuel Cell Expo in Tokyo, one can sense a palpable uptick in activity and optimism compared to the 2009 show. This time not just industry, but government, appears to be driving interest. Please click through for a summary of the show so far from our frequent guest Bob Rose.

Today is our second day at the very busy FC EXPO in Japan. The organizers estimated about 8,000 attendees yesterday just for the fuel cell portion of the show, but there are many more for the concurrent PV/Solar and Battery expos. One great thing they do at this event is to combine the floors and halls for all of the concurrent shows. Attendees are allowed to wander thoughout all of them for no charge, which gives the fuel cell exhibitors a much larger audience (estimated at 27,000 for yesterday), as well as ensuring we are not simply “preaching to the choir.” We had several good discussions with attendees who came for the solar show, but were also interested in fuel cells.

In our travels through Tokyo, we have noticed that fuel cells seem to be more recognized than we are used to in the US. There are even stamps you can purchase at the post offices with fuel cells on them. Commercials for a residential system called Ene-Farm play on the subway trains, and people we have talked to on the streets have recognized the name. We rode a fuel cell bus over the the conference center this morning, and the other passengers seemed to be impressed.

We are taking lots of pictures and will upload a few soon, but meanwhile, please take a look at the next post, which is a more informational update on what we have learned while at the show. Arigato!

As one of Missouri University of Science and Technology’s (Missouri S&T) sustainable energy initiatives, students are designing a hydrogen vehicle for EcoCAR: The Next Challenge, a three-year collegiate competition established by the DOE and GM.

Today we attended a Senate Appropriations Committee Hearing on Electric Vehicles (EV), and while the greatest focus of discussion was EVs and charging infrastructure development, Alan Taub, Vice President of Research and Development for GM, notably closed his testimony with a pitch for fuel cells! Read more after the jump.

Last night 60 Minutes did a substantial piece on Bloom Energy and their “Bloom Box”.  If you didn’t catch it - http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6228923n.  

Another great fuel cell addition to this Winter’s Olympics! Will anyone be traveling to Vancouver this week? Let us know if you see the rings (we’d love a picture), or ride in one of the 20 fuel cell buses!

The BC Hydrogen Highway has announced that the floating Olympic Rings in Vancouver’s harbor will be powered by ‘made-in-Canada’ hydrogen fuel cells.

The BC Hydrogen Highway and its industry members paid for the cost of the new installation, which will provide clean, supplementary power to the LED-lights on the 30 ft. tall Olympic Rings. The Province of British Columbia encouraged the industry to undertake this work - the refit makes the Olympic Rings greener and showcases cutting-edge clean energy technology.

Inside the press release linked above, you’ll find this quote from John Tak, President of the Canadian Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Association. ”The BC Hydrogen Highway is excited and proud to provide this hydrogen fuel cell power boost to such an inspiring, iconic symbol.  It is our hope that when a world-wide audience sees the floating Olympic Rings, they are reminded that clean energy solutions, such as hydrogen fuel cells, have arrived and will help address our environmental challenges.”

The Obama Administration proposed on Monday to reduce funding for PEM-based hydrogen and fuel cell programs in FY 2011, proposing $137 million (a reduction of $37 million), and provided no money for new vehicle deployment under the Technology Validation program. SECA program funding was proposed at $50 million, a reduction of $4 million from 2010.

Please click through for a more detailed summary.

Whew! What a start to the week. The Obama Administration proposed on Monday to reduce funding for PEM-based hydrogen and fuel cell programs in FY 2011 - Expect to see a separate post with more details in just a few minutes. But first, lets see how the Auto Show went.

There was a great representation of fuel cell cars - 4 different manufacturers had their vehicles on display, and some even had an employee on hand to answer questions. We tried not to grill them too hard!

First, our interns Brian and Semee posed with the Mercedes F-Cell. Insiders might get a chance to hear from Semee soon - look for a few guest posts.

Lots more after the jump.

The Washington Auto Show is going on this week, only a few blocks from our offices, and we have seen some pretty cool cars driving by. The Chevy Volt was even available for test rides across the street! We have heard that there are several fuel cell cars at the show, and we will actually be taking our two interns Brian and Semee over this afternoon to check them out.

I guess even US Energy Secretary Steven Chu must have noticed the cars during his tour of the show yesterday. Secretary Chu spoke at the 2010 Washington Auto show about the Obama administration’s commitment to advancing fuel efficient vehicles while helping to create clean energy jobs. After talking about other advanced vehicle technologies, Chu mentioned fuel cells - he said: “and hydrogen fuel cell, its longer in the future, its still in there.” Small progress, but progress just the same!

Like I said, we will be at the show this afternoon, so come back and look for pictures either later today or Monday morning right here. Has anyone else had a chance to head over to the Convention Center? We’d love to see your pictures as well.