the late Spark M. Matsunaga, United States Senator from Hawaii, was a longstanding champion of research and development of renewable energy, particularly wind and ocean energy, photovoltaics, and hydrogen fuels;

it was Senator Matsunaga’s vision that renewable energy could provide a sustained source of non-polluting energy and that such forms of alternative energy might ultimately be employed in the production of liquid hydrogen as a transportation fuel and energy storage medium available as an energy export;

Senator Matsunaga also believed that research on other aspects of renewable energy and ocean resources, such as advanced materials, could be crucial to full development of energy storage and conversion systems; and