It's probably not fair to compare these two stories, but the contrast between what constitutes a public-private partnership in the U.S. versus the European Union these days is kind of stunning.

Last week we told you about how the U.S. Energy Department is going to give a few renewable energy start-ups access to their labs, contribute up to $100,000, and pair them with venture capital firms who will match that contribution. All-in-all, it's a nice little program.

Then we read today about how EU research ministers from the 27 member states approved a regulation last week setting up a public-private research partnership to develop commercially-viable hydrogen and fuel cells by early next decade. Under the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Technology Initiative, the EU is set to contribute more than $700 million over the next six years, an amount to be matched by the private sector.

Officials said the goal is to speed up the development of these technologies and enable their commercialization sometime between 2010 and 2020. We think $1.4 billion signifies a good start in that direction.

The announcement of the JTI came on the same day that EU researchers released a new study that found introducing hydrogen into the energy system could reduce total vehicle oil consumption by 40 percent between now and 2050. The HyWays roadmap study was based on an analysis of vehicle and energy usage in Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom.