Reply #6: Fuel Cells are the future [View All]

[veteran_for_peace]

Is having hydrogen around safe?

Yes. In fact, hydrogen can actually be safer than gasoline. For one thing, hydrogen is a very light gas, and so if there is a leak, it tends to drift upward very quickly, even through tiny cracks in a roof, and disperse into the upper atmosphere where it is harmless. Hydrogen is also completely non-toxic; it is impossible to contaminate anything with spilled hydrogen. Gasoline, in contrast, is a liquid, and it forms puddles (which can burn quite easily) and seeps into the ground when it is spilled. Gasoline is also very poisonous, so spills must be cleaned up at great expense to avoid poisoning ground water supplies. Finally, we have all seen the devastating effect oil spills have on natural habitats. Though not completely free of danger (as is true with any flammable material), hydrogen is a relatively safe fuel.


What are the advantages of using fuel cells?

Fuel cells are clean, highly efficient, scalable power generators that are compatible with a variety of fuel feed stocks and can therefore be used in an assortment of power generation applications. In particular, they offer several advantages over other technologies:

Fuel cells produce electricity without combustion, which means that, unlike internal combustion engines, they generate little (if any) noise, vibration, air pollution, or greenhouse gases and operate at high efficiencies over a wide range of loads.

In small consumer devices and for powering zero emission vehicles, fuel cells, unlike batteries, avoid the need to replace the cell or undergo a lengthy recharging cycle when its fuel is "spent".

Additionally, since fuel cells store their fuel in external storage tanks, the maximum operating range of a fuel cell-powered device is limited only by the amount of fuel that can be carried.

In distributed power generation applications, fuel cells reduce the load on the grid and also eliminate (or reduce) the need for overhead or underground transmission lines, which are expensive to install and maintain, and result in power losses/efficiency reductions.

Since fuel cells are scalable and can be installed on site, they reduce the need for large power generation plants (and the environmental impacts of such large scale plants).