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Fuel Cells -- Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
© Copyright DiscoverThisEverybody's talking about alternative energy these days, from scientists, politicians and public policy makers to environmentalists and concerned parents. With the need to reduce consumption of dwindling fossil fuel supplies, dependence on foreign oil, and emissions of greenhouse gases, developing cleaner, more sustainable sources of energy is no longer a utopian ideal: It's a necessity.
The funny thing is, most alternative energy sources aren't new. After all, how long has the sun supplied energy, windmills generated power, and oil been extracted from plant and animal matter? What's new is our ability to harness these power sources to supply our increasing appetite for energy.
Even fuel cells have been around for more than a century, invented in 1839 by Sir William Grove, a Welsh physicist with a penchant for developing new types of batteries. (In many ways, a fuel cell works like a battery, except it doesn't "die" as a battery does when its internal energy source has been consumed. Instead, a fuel cell is continuously replenished with fuel.)
Knowing that passing an electric current through water will separate it into hydrogen and oxygen, Grove experimented with the opposite reaction -- combining hydrogen and oxygen to produce water and electricity. But while Grove's fuel cells did indeed produce electricity, says Frank DiSalvo, co-director of the Cornell Fuel Cell Institute at Cornell University, the technology wasn't made practical until the 1960s when NASA needed a power supply they could use in space. Even then, adds DiSalvo, the cost was sky high.
Today, research and development of fuel cell technologies is a thriving field because, while the fuel cell is promising as a clean, sustainable energy source with a wide range of potential applications, there are still numerous obstacles to overcome.
Here's a glimpse at some of the work being done with fuel cells today, and where they might be going in the future:
Car Talk: The fuel cell holds great promise as a clean power source for the automotive industry, and most major car companies are running full throttle toward bringing fuel cell vehicles to the mass market. In 2005, for example, Ford placed about 30 hybridized fuel cell vehicles into service in the United States, Canada and Germany as part of an evaluation and demonstration program. GM plans to deliver 100 fuel cell cars to customers in the fall of 2007 in what it dubs the first meaningful market test of fuel cell vehicles. Honda has announced a fully-functional fuel cell car with auxiliary power from a compact, high-efficiency lithium ion battery, and Toyota has developed fuel cell vehicles sporting hydrogen-absorbing alloy tanks, and others featuring methanol reformers for on-board hydrogen production.
Ready To Drive?: While the projects noted above reflect just a portion of the research and development dollars major car companies are pouring into fuel cell technologies, you still won't find fuel cell powered vehicles in your neighborhood showroom.
"There are a lot of obstacles," says DiSalvo, who doesn't foresee fuel cell vehicles hitting the mass market for years, if not decades. Many of the obstacles relate to the production, storage and distribution of hydrogen, but fuel cell cost and durability are factors as well. One cost-related issue lies in the use of platinum in a highly specialized form as a catalyst to promote the chemical reaction necessary to generate power. Why not use something else?
"It's not an easy problem," explains DiSalvo. Grove, he notes, used platinum in his fuel cells over 150 years ago and a viable alternative has yet to be found.
Another issue with current fuel cell automobiles, adds DiSalvo, is durability. Under realistic driving conditions, he says, today's fuel cells will last up to 1,000 hours. A car is typically operated between 5,000 and 10,000 hours before its end of life. Quite simply, he says, "You need it to be better."
Portable Power: DiSalvo believes the first major market penetration of fuel cells will not be in automobiles--although he sees great promise there--but rather in smaller, portable power supplies used in laptops, cell phones and other small electronics. While a lithium battery will power a laptop for "maybe two to five hours," he says, "a fuel cell of the same size could last maybe a week." Fuel cells also can offer the power necessary to run tomorrow's cell phones, which will likely take on expanded functionality from web browsing, movie viewing and beyond.
"It depends on customer acceptance," says DiSalvo of the fuel cell's future in portable power, but the higher cost of running a lithium battery as compared to an automobile engine will make it an easier market to penetrate. "Hopefully," he says, "it will push the fuel cell business along and help in the automotive area."
Bigger and Better: Large fuel cells are being touted as promising alternatives to conventional power plants, too, with fuel cells already generating power for homes and backup power for hospitals and factories in some areas. Fuel cell powered buses are operating in many major metropolitan areas as well.
The Dream: Many questions must be answered before the fuel cell lives up to its potential as a widely used, efficient source of clean energy, but the potential clearly exists. DiSalvo envisions a world -- like the one depicted in the Back to the Future movies -- in which any carbon-based material (a banana peel, perhaps?) can provide fuel to power our vehicles. This is still science fiction, he admits, but it could happen.
If your future scientists and engineers are interested in cars, model engines, and what makes things go, why not encourage them to explore the mechanics of fuel cells with one of our popular fuel cell kits? These kits -- which are used in schools and universities to demonstrate fuel cell technology -- include everything you need to understand and build a working fuel cell vehicle.
Choose from Thames and Kosmos's Fuel Cell Car Kit (with free shipping), the Fuel Cell Mini Car Kit, or the amazingly realistic H-Racer H2 Kit. Better yet, get all three! The spark of curiosity they ignite just might lead to important advancements for the future of fuel cells!
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