The Future in Energy: hydrogen Fuel Cells

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The Future in Energy hydrogen Fuel Cells

• Lauren Havens

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What is a Fuel Cell?
A fuel cell is like a battery that recharges
itself. They are electrochemical devices that
use a natural gas, such as hydrogen to create
energy. Fuel cells do not use the traditional
method of combustion to extract energy, but
rather chemically combine hydrogen from oxygen.
That means that fuel cell energy completely
skips, the conversion of heat energy to
mechanical energy to electricity, making it much
more efficient.
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What is the history of fuel cells?

• Though they seem like a mystical new technology,
  fuel cells have actually been studied for more
  than 150 years!
• The first fuel cell was developed by William
  Robert Grove in the early 1800s. He found that
  he could combine hydrogen and oxygen to create
  electricity and waterhe called it a "gas
  battery.
• The fuel cell remained mearly a curiosity
  throughout the 1800s.
• Fuel cells have been studied intensively,
  especially since World War II.

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What are the advantages of fuel cells?

• They are clean the only emission is water vapor.
• They are more efficient than energy sources that
  include combustion.
• Hydrogen is the most plentiful substance on the
  Earths surface.

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What are the Problems with Fuel Cells?

• As a gas, hydrogen is not concentrated enough to
  be used in a fuel tank. (One solution is to
  compress it to high pressures. Another is to
  chill it to very low temperatures, causing it to
  liquefy.)
• Hydrogen is a non-renewable resource.

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What are some examples of use of fuel cells?

• Long Island is currently installing fuel cells
  that will be able to power average-sized homes.
• 46 Fuel-cell powered buses will be provided to
  Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Cairo, New Delhi,
  Shanghai, and Beijing in a 60 million program by
  the Global Environment Facility for Mexico City.
• Ford's FC5 TH!NK prototype, modeled after the
  Focus sedan, is powered by the latest generation
  of fuel-cell technology.

• A family in Connecticut is installing a fuel cell
  system to power their dairy farm.
• Electrical power for NASA's Space Shuttle Orbiter
  is provided by fuel cell power.

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Bibliography

• Collecting the History of Fuel Cells,
  americanhistory.si.edu/csr/fuelcells/
• Environmental Science, Karen Arms
• Environmental News Network, enn.com
• Howstuffworks.com
• H-Power Pacific, hpowerpacific.com
• National Fuel Cell Research Center,
  nfcrc.uci.edu/index.html
• UTC Fuel Cells www. Ifc.com