COLUMBIA -- Three South Carolinians were honored last week at the National Hydrogen Association’s annual conference where the new South Carolina Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Pavilion was unveiled and the South Carolina Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Alliance announced the winners of a student design contest to implement hydrogen technologies at the Columbia International Airport.

More than 20 leading business delegates from across South Carolina attended the conference in Sacramento, CA, which showcased South Carolina’s assets to more than 1,500 national and international stakeholders.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC) and Columbia Mayor Bob Coble were each granted honorary memberships to the National Hydrogen Association (NHA). Jim Gambrell, Director of Economic Development for the City of Columbia, was on hand to accept Mayor Coble’s award.

Sen. Graham and Rep. Inglis chair the Senate and House Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Caucuses, and Mayor Coble guided the City of Columbia to unanimously pass a resolution supporting the city’s objective to become a leader in fuel cell innovation.

“Not only did we debut our new pavilion in a high-visibility exhibition space, but we also saw some of our fellow South Carolinians inducted into the NHA as honorary members,” said Dr. Shannon Baxter-Clemmons, Executive Director of the South Carolina Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Alliance (SCHFCA). “Overall, our trip to the NHA conference this year was another huge step forward for our state’s hydrogen initiatives.”

The SCHFCA is the title sponsor of the Hydrogen Education Foundation’s 2007-2008 Hydrogen Student Design Contest and helped develop this year’s theme, Hydrogen Applications for Airports. SCHFCA’s Executive Director, Shannon Baxter-Clemmons, along with Paul Brubaker, Director of the Department of Transportation’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration, and Steve Chalk, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Renewable Energy for the U.S. Department of Energy, announced the winner of this year’s contest during the opening keynote session of the conference.

The Hydrogen Student Design Contest challenged student teams to use a budget of $3 million to design the most effective airport hydrogen system that would address the three main challenges of airports today: noise, air pollution and groundwater contamination. Designs were based on the Columbia International Airport, but were made to be applicable to other airports worldwide.

The underlying idea behind the contest was to provide a design that could adopted by the Columbia Airport and implemented before the NHA holds its Annual Conference in Columbia in March 2009. Every previous contest winner has seen their ideas put to real-world use.

A team of students from the Missouri University of Science and Technology took home the grand prize in the Hydrogen Student Design Contest.

“I was pleased to present Missouri S&T with the grand prize award,” said Baxter-Clemmons. “Missouri S&T’s design made good use of existing technologies that could be implemented for practical use by the time the NHA Conference comes to Columbia next year.”

Twenty-three teams from around the world competed in the contest and the five finalists were announced in March. The finalists included: McMaster University, Missouri University of Science and Technology, University of Waterloo, and two teams from Wayne State University. The University of Waterloo received the undergraduate first runner-up award and both Wayne State University teams received the first and second runners-up awards for graduate programs. McMaster University received the third runner-up award.

“Not only could Missouri S&T’s design benefit the Columbia Airport, but it could also benefit all of South Carolina,” said Baxter-Clemmons. “Hydrogen and fuel cell technologies have the ability to reduce our environmental impact, lessen our dependence on foreign oil and create jobs for our state’s citizens.”

The 2009 National Hydrogen Association Annual Conference will be held at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center March 30 – April 3, 2009. An estimated 1,500 attendees and 100 exhibitors will attend the conference when it comes to Columbia. The total economic impact of the conference has been estimated at $1 million, in addition to any pre- and post-conference events around the state.

About the South Carolina Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Alliance:

The SCHFCA is a public-private collaboration for cooperative and coordinated utilization of resources in the state used to advance the commercialization of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. Founded in January 2006, the SCHFCA was created by six core institutions and organizations devoted to hydrogen and fuel cell initiatives: The Center for Hydrogen Research, Clemson University, Savannah River National Laboratory, the S.C. Department of Commerce, S.C. State University and the University of South Carolina. For more information on the SCHFCA and its members, please visit www.schydrogen.org.

About the Hydrogen Student Design Contest:

The Hydrogen Education Foundation’s Hydrogen Design Contest challenges teams of university-level students from around the world to develop and design hydrogen applications for real-world use. For more information on the Contest, please visit www.hydrogencontest.org.

About The National Hydrogen Association:

The National Hydrogen Association is a membership organization founded by a group of ten industry, university, research, and small business members in 1989. Today the NHA’s membership has grown to over 100 members, including representatives from the automobile industry; the fuel cell industry; aerospace; federal, state, and local government; energy providers; and many other industry stakeholders. The NHA serves as a catalyst for information exchange and cooperative projects and provides the setting for mutual support among industry, government, and research/academic organizations. The NHA's mission is to foster the development of hydrogen technologies and their utilization in industrial, commercial, and consumer applications and promote the role of hydrogen in the energy field. For more information about the NHA, please visit www.hydrogenassociation.org.

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