physics

H-Prize

H-Prize is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand H-Prize rather than just read about it. In short: The H-Prize program is a series of inducement prizes intended to encourage research into the use of hydrogen as an energy carrier in a hydrogen economy. The program is sponsored by the United States Department of Energy and administered by the Hydrogen Education Foundation.

Key takeaways

H-Prize belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect H-Prize to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of H-Prize from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The H-Prize program is a series of inducement prizes intended to encourage research into the use of hydrogen as an energy carrier in a hydrogen economy. The program is sponsored by the United States Department of Energy and administered by the Hydrogen Education Foundation. In 2014, an H-Prize competition was launched to develop a small-scale hydrogen generation and refueling station for hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles. The prize, named the H2 Refuel H-Prize and worth $1 million, was awarded in January 2017, to the consortium "SimpleFuel".

Creation Legislation for the prize, introduced by Rep. Bob Inglis, passed the United States House of Representatives in May 2006 as H.R. 5143, but did not receive a vote in the United States Senate. After being reintroduced by Rep. Dan Lipinski at the beginning of a new term in January 2007, it was eventually folded into the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which passed both the House of Representatives and the Senate and was then signed into law in December 2007. The bill authorized $50 million in prize money, for the period from fiscal year 2008 to fiscal year 2017. However, in order to be spent, these funds must also be included in Congress's annual appropriation bills. The law provides for three categories of prizes:

Four prizes of up to $1 million, awarded every two years for advances in hydrogen production, storage, distribution and utilization; One prize of up to $4 million, awarded two years to working prototypes of hydrogen vehicles which meet ambitious performance goals; and A $10 million grand prize, awarded only once during the program for a major technological breakthrough. In October 2008, the Hydrogen Education Foundation of Washington, D.C. was selected to administer the H-Prize along with SCRA, a South Carolina research foundation.

Prizes In August 2009, the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Fuel Cell Technologies Office (FCTO) of the U.S. Department of Energy announced a $1 million prize for innovative hydrogen storage materials which was to be awarded in February 2011. However, the prize was never awarded as no competitor met the competition requirements. In March 2014, EERE FCTO announced plans for a $1 million H2 Refuel H-Prize, and the Prize competition was launched in October 2014. The competition focused on developing small hydrogen refueling stations that can generate hydrogen from electricity or natural gas and dispense it to vehicles at least 1 kg at a time. The winner, SimpleFuel, was announced in January 2017, after building a prototype system and successfully completing the testing period. SimpleFuel was a consortium of three companies, PDC Machines, Ivys, Inc, and McPhy Energy North America.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with H-Prize

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what H-Prize claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to H-Prize before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about H-Prize ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of H-Prize

In research: H-Prize appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses H-Prize in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: H-Prize is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Hydrogen economy, Invention awards, Sustainable technologies, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for H-Prize outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study H-Prize in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what H-Prize means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain H-Prize out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is H-Prize in simple terms?

Why does H-Prize matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study H-Prize?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on H-Prize.