Every half-hour more solar energy strikes the Earth than is released globally by the burning of all fossil fuels in a year. Although only two-billionths of the sun's energy reaches Earth, there is more than enough sunshine and other forms of renewable energy to supply the world's energy needs for centuries. The globe is now in transition from the renewable energy past, where sunshine captured in food and wood provided most of the world's energy, to a renewable energy future, where pollution-free energy carriers - electricity and hydrogen - increasingly will be used to capture, store, and distribute renewable resources in a sustainable energy economy.

A critical challenge facing renewable energy advocates today is to develop market entry strategies capable of propelling the world as quickly as possible into the post-fossil era. To succeed, these strategies must resolve the following problems: (1) technological challenges facing renewable industries; (2) initial high costs of manufacturing advanced technologies in low-production volumes; (3) difficulties in deploying energy systems without a fully-developed fuel production or distribution infrastructure; and (4) the opposition of some of the most powerful corporations in the world, which staunchly defend the status quo.

This paper examines a market entry opportunity for renewable resources in the transportation sector.1 The end game is to replace the conventional gasoline- and diesel-fueled, internal combustion engine-powered vehicles with electric vehicles that are equipped with fuel cells and powered by hydrogen produced from renewable resources. A market entry in transportation using this strategy could provide an important complement to ongoing efforts to introduce renewable resources into centralized electrical power generation. It also offers an exciting avenue toward sustainable transportation that can work in concert with other strategies. These strategies include increased use of mass transit and alternative transportation modes, stricter fuel efficiency and tailpipe emission standards, and implementation of a wide range of transportation demand management programs designed to reduce vehicle miles traveled.

This brief begins with a discussion of the shift toward fossil fuels in the 20th century and the need to alter this course. The paper proceeds to a more technical discussion of renewables-based hydrogen as a source of sustainable energy for the transportation sector. Six reasons are given for why renewable energy advocates should pursue market entry opportunities for renewables-based hydrogen vehicles. The paper concludes with five recommendations for developing a market entry strategy.

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