I 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5143 
To authorize the Secretary of Energy to establish monetary prizes for achieve-
ments in overcoming scientific and technical barriers associated with 
hydrogen energy. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 6, 2006 
Mr. INGLIS of South Carolina (for himself, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. KINGSTON, Mr. 
WAMP, Mr. WOLF, Mr. BOEHLERT, Mr. EHLERS, Mr. BARTLETT of 
Maryland, Mr. WYNN, Mr. DENT, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. 
MCCAUL of Texas, Mr. BROWN of South Carolina, Mr. WILSON of South 
Carolina, and Mr. TERRY) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Science 
A BILL 
To authorize the Secretary of Energy to establish monetary 
prizes for achievements in overcoming scientific and tech-
nical barriers associated with hydrogen energy. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘H-Prize Act of 2006’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
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(1) DEPARTMENT.—The term ‘‘Department’’ 
means the Department of Energy. 
(2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of Energy. 
SEC. 3. PRIZE AUTHORITY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry out a 
program to competitively award cash prizes only in con-
formity with this Act to advance the research, develop-
ment, demonstration, and commercial application of hy-
drogen energy technologies. 
(b) ADVERTISING AND SOLICITATION OF COMPETI-
TORS.— 
(1) ADVERTISING.—The Secretary shall widely 
advertise prize competitions to encourage broad par-
ticipation, including by individuals, universities, and 
large and small businesses. 
(2) ANNOUNCEMENT THROUGH FEDERAL REG-
ISTER NOTICE.—The Secretary shall announce each 
prize competition by publishing a notice in the Fed-
eral Register. This notice shall include the subject of 
the competition, the duration of the competition, the 
eligibility requirements for participation in the com-
petition, the process for participants to register for 
the competition, the amount of the prize, and the 
criteria for awarding the prize. 
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(c) ADMINISTERING THE COMPETITIONS.—The Sec-
retary shall enter into an agreement with a private, non-
profit entity to administer the prize competitions, subject 
to the provisions of this Act. 
(d) FUNDING SOURCES.—Prizes under this Act may 
consist of Federal appropriated funds and funds provided 
by private entities or individuals for such cash prizes. The 
Secretary may accept funds from other Federal agencies 
for such cash prizes. The Secretary may not give any spe-
cial consideration to any private sector entity or individual 
in return for a donation. 
(e) ANNOUNCEMENT
OF PRIZES.—The Secretary 
may not issue a notice required by subsection (b)(2) until 
all the funds needed to pay out the announced amount 
of the prize have been appropriated or committed in writ-
ing by a private source. The Secretary may increase the 
amount of a prize after an initial announcement is made 
under subsection (b)(2) if— 
(1) notice of the increase is provided in the 
same manner as the initial notice of the prize; and 
(2) the funds needed to pay out the announced 
amount of the increase have been appropriated or 
committed in writing by a private source. 
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(f) SUNSET.—The authority to announce prize com-
petitions under this Act shall terminate on September 30, 
2017. 
SEC. 4. PRIZE CATEGORIES. 
(a) CATEGORIES.—The Secretary shall establish 
prizes for— 
(1) advancements in components or systems re-
lated to— 
(A) hydrogen production; 
(B) hydrogen storage; 
(C) hydrogen distribution; and 
(D) hydrogen utilization; 
(2) prototypes of hydrogen-powered vehicles or 
other hydrogen-based products that best meet or ex-
ceed objective performance criteria, such as comple-
tion of a race over a certain distance or terrain or 
generation of energy at certain levels of efficiency; 
and 
(3) transformational changes in technologies for 
the distribution or production of hydrogen that meet 
or exceed far-reaching objective criteria, which shall 
include minimal carbon emissions and which may in-
clude cost criteria designed to facilitate the eventual 
market success of a winning technology. 
(b) AWARDS.— 
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(1) ADVANCEMENTS.—To the extent permitted 
under section 3(e), the prizes authorized under sub-
section (a)(1) shall be awarded biennially to the 
most significant advance made in each of the four 
subcategories 
described 
in 
subparagraphs 
(A) 
through (D) of subsection (a)(1) since the submis-
sion deadline of the previous prize competition in the 
same category under subsection (a)(1) or the date of 
enactment of this Act, whichever is later. No one 
such prize may exceed $1,000,000. If less than 
$4,000,000 is available for a prize competition under 
subsection (a)(1), the Secretary may omit one or 
more subcategories, reduce the amount of the prizes, 
or not hold a prize competition. 
(2) PROTOTYPES.—To the extent permitted 
under section 3(e), prizes authorized under sub-
section (a)(2) shall be awarded biennially in alter-
nate years from the prizes authorized under sub-
section (a)(1). The Secretary is authorized to award 
up to one prize in this category in each 2-year pe-
riod. No such prize may exceed $4,000,000. If no 
registered participants meet the objective perform-
ance criteria established pursuant to subsection (c) 
for a competition under this paragraph, the Sec-
retary shall not award a prize. 
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(3) TRANSFORMATIONAL
TECHNOLOGIES.—To 
the extent permitted under section 3(e), the Sec-
retary shall announce at least one prize competition 
authorized under subsection (a)(3) as soon after the 
date of enactment of this Act as is practicable. To 
the extent permitted under section 3(e), the Sec-
retary may announce additional prize competitions 
authorized under subsection (a)(3) as appropriate to 
accelerate the development and adoption of hydrogen 
technologies. A prize offered under this paragraph 
shall be in the amount of $100,000,000. The Sec-
retary may allow the winner of a prize under this 
paragraph to receive up to $10,000,000 of the prize 
in a lump sum as cash. Any portion of the prize not 
received as a lump sum in cash shall be paid to the 
winner as a Federal match for each dollar of private 
funding raised by the winner for the hydrogen tech-
nology beginning on the date the winner was named. 
The match shall be provided for 3 years after the 
date the prize winner is named or until the full 
amount of the prize has been paid out, whichever oc-
curs first. A prize winner may elect to have the Fed-
eral match amount paid to another entity that is 
continuing the development of the winning tech-
nology. The Secretary shall announce how much of 
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