THE MAIN ADVANTAGES OF FUEL CELLS

Fuel cells have a higher efficiency than diesel or gas engines.Fuel cells are energy conversion devices they convert stored energy within a fuel into usable energy.Since fuel cells create energy electrochemically, and do not burn fuel, they are fundamentally more efficient than combustion systems. Fuel cell systems today achieve 40-50 percent fuel-to-electricity efficiency using hydrocarbon fuels such as natural gas.When used in a cogeneration system (where the generated waste heat is reused), certain fuel cells can have efficiencies ranging from 40 to 90%. Fuel cell passenger vehicles are expected to be up to three times more efficient than internal combustion engines which, on average, have efficiencies between 16-20 percent. The maintenance of fuel cells is simple. This has to do with the fact that there are considerably less moving parts.Also, the only moving parts in fuel cells are involved with water, heat and air management (pumps, blowers, compressors)which require less maintenance when compared to internal combustion engines. Less maintenance means reduced operating costs. Unlike batteries fuel cells have no memory effect when they are getting refueled. A fuel cell does not run down or require recharging. As long as fuel is supplied, it will produce energy in the form of electricity and heat. Operating times are much longer than with batteries.All that need be done to double the operating time is doubling the amount of fuel without having to double the capacity of the unit itself. Most fuel cells operate silently compared to internal combustion engines.Few moving parts means among other things very low noise and barely noticeable vibrations . A compressor, blower or pump will be the only things that may perhaps be heard (the level of noise similar to that of a fan in a desktop computer) .An order of magnitude less than a combustion engine. Hydrogen is flexible.It can be produced anywhere there is water and a source of power generation of fuel that can be distributed.Hydrogen can be produced via electrolysis or reforming of hydrocarbons. The source of the hydrogen does not matter in most fuel cells.Fuel cells do not have to be connected to the electrical grid ,they do not have to be grid-dependent. Different types of fuel cells can operate on a range of different fuels.A fuel cell system can include a fuel reformer that generates hydrogen from a diverse range of sources including fossil fuels such as natural gas, propane and coal, alcohol fuels such as methanol and ethanol, and from hydrogen compounds containing no carbon such as ammonia or borohydride. In

addition, biomass, methane, landfill gas or anaerobic digester gas from wastewater treatment plants may be used as fuel sources too.

.Energy Security Hydrogen can be produced from domestic resources, eliminating the need to import foreign oil. Passenger vehicles alone(in the US) consume six million barrels of oil every day, equivalent to 85 percent of oil imports. If just 20 percent of cars in the U.S. were fuel cell vehicles, oil imports could be cut by 1.5 million barrels per day. If the hydrogen comes from the electrolysis of water driven by renewable energy then using fuel cells eliminates greenhouse gases Low temperature fuel cells have low heat transmission which makes them ideal for military applications Higher temperature fuel cells produce high-grade process heat along with electricity and are well suited to cogeneration applications such as combined heat and power for residential use (Source: The Fuel Cell Industry Review 2012) .Low Emissions.PEM fuel cells that run on hydrogen only emit water at the point of use. Even when using hydrocarbon fuels, fuel cells emit considerably less emissions than other combustion based technologies.Because of their higher efficiency they require less fuel to generate the same energy and since there is no combustion, there are negligible NOx or SOx emissions and no particulate emissions.Even though some fuel cells do emit carbon dioxide, it is in comparitively small amounts.