Hydrogen Fuel Cells

Hydrogen fuel cells are a relatively new technology that was originally developed for the space program. In fact a lot alternative energy ideas and techniques come from the space program.

 Fuel Cells are similar to batteries in that they produce electricity by a chemical reaction combined with an electrical charge. The difference with batteries is that power is only produced while the fuel cell is being fed with hydrogen.

The amount of electricity the fuel cell produces depends on the size of the cell as well as the rate of flow of the hydrogen. The chemical reaction between hydrogen and the air produces electricity, water and heat. The heat output from a fuel cell, however, is quite low when compared with other energy sources such as fossil fuels.

There are several advantages of hydrogen fuel cells over other power supplies. First of all they are clean – the only by products are water and a little bit of heat. Secondly, they are very efficient. Gasoline engines, for example, operate at an efficiency rate of about 20%. Fuel cells have an efficiency rate between 45% and 53%.

Hydrogen fuel cells can be used anywhere electricity is required. Since their size is scalable they can be made small enough to power an MP3 player or big enough to power a town. They can also be used to provide rotary power for vehicles.

The automobile industry is looking at fuel cells as a replacement for the internal combustion engine. If they become popular, cars powered with fuel cells will reduce our dependency on petroleum and cut down on pollution. And it looks great, a car which only "waste" is drinkable water.

Hydrogen fuel cells have also been installed to provide power for industrial buildings and even whole neighborhoods.

Some say fuel cells are expected to replace petroleum as a power source within 50 to 100 years. That they have broad commercial and social applications and should be used to bring electricity to remote settlements around the world as well as to provide a source of renewable power for portable devices.

Sound great doesn't it. Well there is a rather serious downside to all this, i.e. where to get the hydrogen from. Most hydrogen is still produced using fossil fuels, so that way it is just substituting.

I'm not into conspiracy theories but it looks like that the combination of traditional power and alternative power sources has attacked the attention of the powerful oil and natural gas energy sector But with ongoing research there is a possibility we will find a way out of this loophole.

So they are one of the fascinating alternative energy development we constantly monitor.

Government support and commercial interest has giving a great boost to the success of this "sustainable", clean energy source.