Private-Sector Benefits

Public-Sector and Private-Sector Benefits of Investing in Hydrogen... 

Private-sector benefits Provide more-secure and higher-quality electricity Become more profitable Help companies meet environmental and other regulations Reduce electricity costs—in particular, demand charges Reduce price uncertainty Increase safety Back-up generators... 

Proponents of the laboratories counter that, despite these shortcomings, the laboratories seiwe a vital mission of undertaking the high risk and expensive investments that the private sector would never agree to invest in. Although natural gas research and development was minimal, DOE support accelerated technological advances on natural gas-fired turbines. Much of the research and development at the laboratories has provided a net social benefit to the nation and economy, work such as safe nuclear reactors and the development of sophisticated defense weapons. 

The need to balance costs against benefits both in the public and private sectors resulted in a search for methods of predicting the fate and effects of chemicals in the environment. Actual field testing of all cases of interest is both too costly and too dangerous to perform. Mathematical models, therefore, have been developed to provide descriptive tools and predictive approaches to this problem. At the symposium on which this book is based, a collection of user-oriented information was presented and covered the following aspects of environmental fate modeling ... 

Brownfields are contaminated and derelict land typically in urban settings in which federal funds, limited to 200,000, have been made available. These funds are often associated with significant tax benefits, and serve as seed money for state-granted assistance to selected private-sector developers. The objective of the brownfield initiative, like that of the VCPs, is to assist in the rebuilding of distressed urban areas, to create jobs, and to strengthen cities infrastructure. Under this alternative,... 

In countries highly reliant on private-sector financing such as the United States, even if employees ultimately pay for most or even all of the cost of employer-provided health benefits (Pauly 1998), adjustments in wage compensation to rapid increases in outlays for health benefits may take years to achieve, with disemployment being the predominant response in the... 

The public authorities stipulate national regulations setting protection objectives and means, and controlling their implementation by the private sector. Governments decide on the criteria to apply for risk assessment and determine which are the expected benefits and drawbacks of the protection measures. The operators of the CII are responsible and accountable by the government for the implementation of the protection measures. 

On December 9, 2004, the RAND Corporation hosted a forum on hydrogen energy that drew 40 experts in various fields from the United States, Canada, and Norway. The goal of the forum was to facilitate an open discussion on the analyses and actions that are needed to inform decisionmakers in the public and private sectors on the opportunities, benefits, and costs of various hydrogen-related programs and policies. 

The forum discussion was framed in the context of whether private-sector companies or the government should make investments in hydrogen research, development, and deployment. While forum participants did not address the costs of hydrogen, they identified the following potential benefits of hydrogen, which warrant further examination and assessment ... 

Policy Lack of national policy and political will Competing social interests No coherency in standards and codes Institutional barriers to acceptance of new technologies Length of time to realize the public benefits Competing subsidies and lack of a level playing field Differing measures of success in public and private sectors ... 

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