What are some benefits or limitations of the alternative technology regarding economics? (What will it cost to purchase, re-fuel, launch, educate and distribute?) Benefits. No pollution: A great benefit of using hydrogen fuel cells is that they give off no pollution, and in fact produce pure water as a byproduct. Even though currently engineers are concentrating on producing hydrogen from natural gas, it will be for a short-term. Scientists are planning to have renewable environmentally-friendly ways of producing hydrogen in the future. Efficiency: Fuel cells generate electrical power quietly and efficiently. Approximate estimation of the fuel-cell car efficiency is 64 percent. While the latest model of popular brand Honda FCX concept reportedly has 60-percent energy efficiency. Convenience: A car could run a while on hydrogen without going to a power station. The future of the fuel-cell cars is promising and only United States along has dedicated more than one billion dollars to fuel cell research and development so far. However it will not happen overnight because scientists have to sort out a few major issues with fuel cell: Limitations.
The Essay on Ballard Fuel Cell Hydrogen Power Cells
THE BALLARD FUEL CELL The Ballard fuel cell is a power generating device which combines hydrogen (which can be obtained from methanol, natural gas, petroleum) and oxygen without the use of combustion in order to generate electricity. Since fuel cells operate very quietly and efficiently and their only emissions are pure water and heat they are expected to be the future of power generating ...
Cost: Many pieces of a fuel cell are costly. Use of precious metal such as platinum is required. Fuel cell systems must cost $35 per kilowatt. Currently the production price is $73 per kilowatt. Durability: Membranes that are part of the hydrogen fuel cell has to stand 100 degrees Celsius and still function at sub-zero temperatures. Currently membranes tend to degrade while fuel cells cycle on and off, particularly as operating temperatures rise. Delivery: the air compressor technologies currently available are not suitable for the new vehicle use. The alternative principal for fuel delivery has to be developed and become available for the new “gas” stations. Purity: hydrogen does naturally exist on Earth in its elemental form. Engineers and scientists must produce pure hydrogen from these hydrogen compounds including fossil fuels or water. The hydrogen that comes out of them is not pure and technology has to be in place to clean it. It also lowers the efficiency of the fuel cell. Given that a lot of issues are still to be resolved we cannot expect for the hydrogen driven vehicles to immediately replace the cars we drive today. This type of cars might not be cheap at the first as well as cost of refuelling them. However, with the continuous progress this should soon be stabilized. The fuel price will not be dependent on the oil price increase.
