Wellesley,According to a new technical market research report, BUILDING THE GLOBAL HYDROGEN ECONOMY: TECHNOLOGIES AND OPPORTUNITIES (EGY055B) from BCC Research (www.bccresearch.com), the global investment in plants and equipment for the hydrogen economy is estimated to be worth $2.2 billion in 2010, but is expected to increase to $5.4 billion in 2015, for a 5-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.3%.

The largest segment of the market, energy conversion, is expected to increase to more than $3.7 billion in 2015, after rising at a CAGR of 23.2% from the 2010 value of $1.3 billion.

The second-largest segment, hydrogen production, is estimated to be worth $650 million in 2010, and is projected to increase at a CAGR of 11.5% to reach more than $1.1 billion in 2015.

The storage and distribution segment is expected to reach $118 million in 2015, after rising at a CAGR of 6.3% from the 2010 value of $87 million.

The report covers the worldwide market for technologies used in the production, storage, and distribution of hydrogen, its conversion to other forms of energy or direct consumption as a fuel, and miscellaneous other types of hydrogen-related technology such as hydrogen sensors.

The hydrogen economy is a vision of a future economy in which hydrogen (used directly as a fuel or converted to electricity in systems such as fuel cells) serves the primary form of energy for transportation and other mobile and fixed applications. Hydrogen today accounts for a negligible share of global energy consumption. Hydrogen currently is used mainly as a process input in industries ranging from fertilizer to metallurgy. The largest single-end use of hydrogen is in refining crude oil into the gasoline used to power motor vehicles.

This report is intended especially for executives, entrepreneurs, investors, venture capitalists and other readers with a need to know where the market for hydrogen-related technologies is headed in the next 5 years.

Notes to Editor

Data and analysis extracted from this press release must be accompanied by a statement identifying BCC Research.

BCC Research is a leading publisher of market research reports and technical publications.