The Pros And Cons Of Renewable Fuel Cells

The Hydrogen Fuel Cell could revolutionize the world. This ingenious technology, which creates electricity from the chemical reactions of hydrogen and oxygen has, in its 150-year history, passed many of the critical tests along the path from invention to innovation. Recent developments in fuel cell technology and concurrent developments within the energy and automotive industries have brought the world to brink of the fuel cell age and the hydrogen economy.

The automotive industry is one of the largest industries in the entire world. As the world’s population grows and economic development occurs, the auto industry also expands. Unfortunately the growth in car numbers has had a negative environmenta, impact due to carbon dioxide and particulate emissions generated and released from the combustion process. Technology has developed a solution by utilizing the concept of hydrogen fuel cells. As the years have passed, there has been continuous development on automotive fuel cells and now it has come close to mass production of these vehicles. The main problem is the continued development of hydrogen fuel cells and their infrastructure may not be worth the cost.

Every element is valuable and unique due to the endless arrangements of sub-atomic particles, which fascinates me. This allows for a diversity of elemental properties, sparking innovation for chemists to develop new products from different tasting chocolates to materials used for rockets- shaping society and the environment of the modern world. The sheer range of applications where chemistry is involved inspires me to contribute, while learning, unlocking why everything behaves the way it does.

There are many things that we rely on that are naturally provided by nature from the water that is used to replenish our systems to prevent dehydration, to the air that we breath down to some portions of food that we eat. One of those natural elements are used daily but are often not thought about outside of the scientific or political fields is energy. Energy is all around us there is nothing that is done in the day to day life that can be done without energy. From putting on your shoes to making coffee in the morning even down to driving your vehicle in one way shape or form energy is being used. Just as the ecosystems are in need of repair due to various contributory causes’ energy is also a resource that should be protected just the same. In the following paragraphs the pros and cons of each energy source will be dissected and the law of preservation of energy will be explained.

One of the most hotly contested debates in today’s realm of environmental concern is how to secure energy for the maintenance and improvement of quality of life in the future. To date, humanity has been blessed with plentiful reserves of cheap crude oil, which can be refined into a multitude of items that make the lives of many so convenient—gasoline, heating oil, natural gas, plastics, and fertilizers. In some parts of the world, these technologies merely facilitate survival. But concern over what happens when these supplies dwindle is universal. Science has revealed that oil will not last forever at the rate it is being consumed. Therefore, alternatives must be developed that can provide sustainable

This source mainly concentrates on the use of hydrogen fuel cells as an alternative to the United States dependency on foreign oil. It elaborates on the negatives of our countries reliance upon external sources for the vast majority of our power production needs, and suggests that hydrogen fuel cells are the answer to a sustainable energy future. The author is a writer for CQ Researcher who concentrates on energy, environmental, and defense issues. While the article is mainly geared toward individuals interested in the automotive industry and the applications of hydrogen fuel cells in vehicles, it does an excellent job of contrasting oil based

One of the leading causes of lung cancer is believed to be air pollution. With nearly all automobiles running on gasoline, there is a much higher chance of obtaining a life threatening disease. There are many different solutions that attempted to fix the problem of automobile pollution but only one has come close. The hydrogen fuel cell consists of two electrodes, a positively charged cathode, and a negatively charged anode. The fuel cell has an electrolyte that sends electrically charged particles from one electrode to the other. The hydrogen fuel cell is able to produce energy as long as oxygen and hydrogen are available. Hydrogen fuel cells don’t produce emissions and are also able to power all motor vehicles. These special fuel cells do not cause pollution or create dangerous byproducts, their only byproducts are water and heat. In addition, a hydrogen fuel cell is way more efficient than gasoline powered engines. Most forms of transportation emit harmful emissions and cause pollution. The hydrogen fuel cell is an environmentally friendly alternative to

Wang, Y., Chen, K.S., Mishler, J., Cho, S.C., and Adroher, X.C. (2011)A Review of Polymer ElectrolyteMembrane Fuel Cells: Technology, Applications, and Needs on Fundamental Research, Applied Energy, 88, (4), pp. 981-1007.

Currently in the U.S. we rely on non-renewable sources to produce our energy such as oil, coal, natural gas and nuclear energy. Although these methods do well producing energy, they also have large down falls environmental, economically, and in other ways that fail to show a promising future. This makes it necessary that we adapt alternative renewable energy methods that do not have these effects, and can insure a promising future.

The United States has an extremely well developed and maintained power grid which in its current state is configured primarily for non-renewable power generation. As the cost of green power comes down there will be an increasing amount of green power generation on the grid. This new, cleaner source of energy unfortunately has disadvantages that more traditional methods of power generation don’t suffer from, namely consistently. Photo-voltaic cells will only work when the sun is shining and wind turbines only spin when wind is present. I will be examining the readiness for renewable power of the power grid within the United States as well as investigating improvements that would allow for a larger national power generation percentage of renewable

A fossil-fueled power plant relies on the ancient technology of fire to produce heat. According to Harold L. Flescher “Today, almost 50% of electricity in the United States comes from coal, almost 20% from natural gas, almost 20% from nuclear and 7% from hydroelectric. That adds up to over 95% of the United States electrical energy generation capability. Everything else, including solar and wind, today contributes less than 5% of U.S. electrical needs” (2). It is believed that our country and many others will continue to use coal and other fossil fueled plants as a main source for electricity for another couple of generations until we eventually graduate from the idea of using fossil fueled power plants (Flescher 2). The structure developed

Hydrogen and fuel cells are not technically renewable energy although they are everywhere and don't cause much pollution. With hydrogen, it can be used as fuel and the only emission is water. By using hydrogen there can be a large reduction in green house gases and air pollution. Plus the hydrogen can be used in the fuels cells to power electric motors or batteries for electricity. If your wondering what fuel cells is, there pretty much batteries, or what you would power an electric car with. The only thing about hydrogen is that it is hard to obtain, or it takes more energy to make it than it gives off. Hydrogen is an element on the periodic table and is in the gas family. Hydrogen’s atomic number is 1and it was discovered by a man by the name of Henry Cavendish in the year of 1766. Hydrogen has no color, taste, and smell, is slightly soluble in water and is highly explosive. Hydrogen can be found anywhere in the universe and is used as the fuel for many solar reactions. The hydrogen that is in our atmosphere has three different isotopes and they are called protium, which has one proton, then deuterium, which has one proton and one neutron. Then the third is tritium, which has one proton and two neutrons. Now if your wondering what protons and neutrons are, then you came to the right place. A proton is sub atomic particle with a positive charge found in the nucleus of an atom. A neutron is a sub atomic particle with a negative

Fossil Fuel energy accounts for 85% of America’s energy usage, but what if Fossil Fuel Energy was no longer around (“The Hidden”)? How would schools, factories, houses operate? For many years, America has relied on Fossil Fuel Energy to generate energy for nation. Although Fossil Fuel energy has been used for many years, some oppose the use of Fossil Fuel energy. Recent Studies in the Nuclear energy persuades some to believe that Nuclear energy is more suitable for the nation in the future. Using Coal in order to produce energy has been practiced for several centuries now. Thinking all the way back to caveman, they produced energy through by burning coal or other natural resources, such as charol. Even though there are indeed other natural

Although the United States has come a long way in the field of Renewable Energy, there are still major roadblocks in the way of a national shift to clean energy. Renewable energy made up only 12% of US energy production in 2016, while The three major fossil fuels—petroleum, natural gas, and coal—accounted for 78%, showing there is still a long way to go (eia.gov). This has been a particularly arduous year for environmentalist and renewable energy companies alike as there have been major political strides against clean energy. Bills, Executive Orders, and new laws have slowed the progress that Renewable Energy has been making in recent years.

The last form of fuel cells available is PEM (or Proton Exchange Membrane). The electrolyte for this is a very thin polymer sheet. Unfortunately, this type can be extremely expensive because it is required to have a platinum catalyst. A temperature of eighty degrees celsius must also be reached. This fuel cell still resembles the basic form. It requires hydrogen atoms which have been striped from their electrons, and the electrons pass through the exterior circuit, which creates electricity. At the end, it meets with air to create