Recommendation 2-16 recommended that DOE collaborate with the Environmental Protection Agency to systematically identify and examine the consequences of widespread hydrogen production and use. DOE concurred and is using the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement process as the backbone for this assessment. The committee recognizes the scope and breadth of the DOE response. As with safety, environmental impacts are better recognized and addressed early in the program rather than discovered after large-scale investments have been made.

Recommendation 2-2 proposed that the Partnership should use its systems analysis capabilities routinely in all management activities—establishing goals, evaluating trade-offs, setting priorities, and making go/no-go decisions. Recommendation 2-1 emphasized a specific element of this, the use of ongoing well-to-wheels analyses to assess progress in the FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership and to guide trade-offs among goals.

DOE has concurred, and the committee recognizes the progress that has been made since the 2005 report. The committee continues to encourage the further integration of the systems approach into all aspects of program management, both as a guide to effective management and as a way to communicate with the diverse set of the Partnership stakeholders.

The Phase 1 committee also recommended, following on Recommendation 2-2, that the Partnership should perform an overall program evaluation using go/no-go decisions and setting priorities focused on the most important goals. DOE has concurred. Looking ahead, the committee recognizes that the future of the FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership beyond 2008 remains to be determined. Nevertheless, the committee recommends that the Executive Steering Group begin a strategic planning activity that would establish the most important objectives and ensure the means to achieve them.

Department of Energy (DOE). 2004. Hydrogen Posture Plan: An Integrated Research, Development and Demonstration Plan. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Energy. Available on the Web at <http://www.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells/pdfs/hydrogen_posture_plan.pdf>.

National Research Council (NRC). 2005. Review of the Research Program of the FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership, First Report. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press.

National Research Council/National Academy of Engineering (NRC/NAE). 2004. The Hydrogen Economy: Opportunities, Costs, Barriers, and R&D Needs. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press.