FUEL CELLS—ENERGY FOR A POWER-HUNGRY WORLD - Chemistry: Notable Research and Discoveries - page 154

nationalrenewableEnergy
laboratory
In 1977, as oil embargoes and skyrocketing gasoline prices
called attention to America's dependence on foreign oil, the
Solar Energy Research Institute began operations. The goal
of this research center was to explore technologies that
could make use of freely available energy from sunlight as
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (National Renewable
Energy Laboratory [NREL])
compress the hydrogen for storage), and a storage unit. Hydrogen is a
highly fl ammable gas—the German airship Hindenburg crashed in New
Jersey on May 6, 1937, killing 36 people, when a spark ignited the ship's
hydrogen. Th e Hickam hydrogen station has seven emergency shutdown
devices, any of one which can shut down the station by removing power
and closing valves.