Sandia researcher Chris Apblett conducts an experiment on a bio microfuel cell.

A hydrogen economy depends on the availability of a stable, economical supply of hydrogen. Natural hydrogen reserves do not exist, so production methods will have to be developed to meet growing energy demands.

Unlike oil, hydrogen is not an energy resource itself; instead, it would serve as an energy carrier. After being produced from "primary energy" in a conversion process, hydrogen would store energy in chemical form for later use.

Hydrogen can be produced through a wide range of conversion processes that fall into three main categories: thermochemical, electrolytic, and photolytic production technologies. Much basic research and engineering needs to be done to bring many of these technologies to practical application.

Sandia researchers are leading a number of research efforts that are designed to answer underlying basic science questions as well as to develop new production technologies—both of which must be addressed for the development of large-scale hydrogen production capacity.