VANCOUVER -- British Columbia is a hydrogen powerhouse that will have half its electricity generated by clean sources in 2010, Premier Gordon Campbell said yesterday. Campbell made the remarks to about 500 people on the closing day of a hydrogen fuel cell conference here.

Calling British Columbia a leader in fuel cell research, Campbell said global demand for fuel cells and related products is expected to increase to $46 billion by 2011 and $2.6 trillion by 2021.

Campbell also emphasized the B.C. government's support for fuel cell researchers, telling delegates they could e-mail their ideas to Rick Thorpe, provincial competition, science and enterprise minister, or Energy and Mines Minister Richard Neufeld.

After the speech, Campbell joked about a latte he was given that was heated by hydrogen power.

"The coffee is hot; I don't notice a difference by this coffee heated by a fuel cell or our regular electricity," Campbell told the laughing crowd. "So we're lucky: Fuel cells are better.

"Overall it's a much more sustainable coffee."

Hydrogen fuel cells use hydrogen, the most abundant element in the universe, to create electricity by combining it with oxygen. When pure hydrogen is used the only waste products are water and heat.