Hydrogen Fuel Cell and Future Energy

Hyundai NEXO Hydrogen Fuel Cell Car beim Autosalon Genf 2018
Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

We are living in a modern world, a world full of technology that looked completely futuristic just a generation ago. Those modern futuristic devices that help get us through the day all use energy and to supply all of that energy we need fuel. 

Today, the technology around generating clean renewable energy is evolving about as fast as the rest of our modern world and among the most versatile examples is fuel cell technology. Fuel cells provide critical energy backup for many large facilities, and they provide primary energy for some remote locations. Fuel cells are even being used to power vehicles and homes.

How does it  work?

A fuel cell is sort of like a battery. It generates electricity from the simple and abundant hydrogen and oxygen found in chemical compounds all around us and here is the cool thing, a hydrogen fuel cell's exhaust is nothing but water. There are several types of fuel cell technologies, all are designed for specific applications but essentially they all work on the same principle. Hydrogen gas is fed into one side of the fuel cell and air, which contains oxygen, is fed into the other. Hydrogen passes through the layers of the  fuel cell and as this happens, it induces a positive and a negative charge, which generates an electrical current. Finally, the hydrogen  is combined with the oxygen and reacts to form water. Individual fuel cells can be stacked to provide more power. The taller the stack, the more power it generates. Because of this stackability, fuel cells can be manufactured to scale for a variety of power needs. One important thing to keep in mind about hydrogen : it's not an energy source itself-hydrogen is what called an energy  carrier. That means energy from another source can be used to generate hydrogen. Hydrogen then stores energy from that original source until it is used to power fuel cell. One common way to extract hydrogen  is through a process called splitting water, where hydrogen is separated from oxygen using electrical current. Hydrogen can also be extracted from natural gas through a process called reforming. Although  each of these methods require some energy themselves, once extracted hydrogen can generate electricity without any combustion-in other words a clean energy source. One of the things that fuel cells is used for today is as backup power sources for industrial applications, like factories and universities. If the power grid go down, then these fuel cells can be powered up to produce electricity with no harmful emissions.

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Courtesy Wikipedia

Today, hydrogen fuel cell test vehicles are already on the road. The local fueling stations contain hydrogen that can be used by a fuel-cell powered vehicle to run an electric motor. The result is an electric vehicle with no emissions except water. In the future, we could see fuel cells powering even more homes, offices, industries and vehicles, supplied by reliable hydrogen infrastructure and supporting clean energy economy. Fuel cell technology: a long  term, sustainable solution to help meet the world's need for clean and reliable energy.

Hydrogen fuel cell vehicle Courtesy ngpltd.co.uk