Future of hydrogen fuel cells essay

Chloroplast and Thylakoid In photosynthetic bacteria, the proteins that gather light for photosynthesis are embedded in cell membranes. In its simplest form, this involves the membrane surrounding the cell itself. A typical plant cell contains about 10 to chloroplasts.

Selected energy densities plot [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] In energy storage applications the energy density relates the mass of an energy store to the volume of the storage facility, e. The higher the energy density of the fuel, the more energy may be stored or transported for the same amount of volume.

The energy density of a fuel per unit mass is called the specific energy of that fuel.

A curious voltaic pile

In general an engine using that fuel will generate less kinetic energy due to inefficiencies and thermodynamic considerations—hence the specific fuel consumption of an engine will always be greater than its rate of production of the kinetic energy of motion.

Nuclear energy sources[ edit ] The greatest energy source by far is mass itself. This energy, however, can be released only by the processes of nuclear fission 0.

Although greater matter densities can be achieved, the density of a neutron star would approximate the most dense system capable of matter-antimatter annihilation possible. In the case of relatively small black holes smaller than astronomical objects the power output would be tremendous.

The highest density sources of energy aside from antimatter are fusion and fission. Fusion includes energy from the sun which will be available for billions of years in the form of sunlight but so farsustained fusion power production continues to be elusive.

Power from fission of uranium and thorium in nuclear power plants will be available for many decades or even centuries because of the plentiful supply of the elements on earth, [38] though the full potential of this source can only be realised through breeder reactorswhich are, apart from the BN reactornot yet used commercially.

Burning local biomass fuels supplies household energy needs cooking firesoil lampsetc. This represents a considerable density of energy which requires under all circumstances a continuous water flow at high velocity in order to be able to remove the heat from the core, even after an emergency shutdown of the reactor.

The incapacity to cool the cores of three boiling water reactors BWR at Fukushima in after the tsunami and the resulting loss of the external electrical power and of the cold source was the cause of the meltdown of the three cores in only a few hours.

This extremely high power density distinguishes nuclear power plants NPP's from any thermal power plants burning coal, fuel or gas or any chemical plants and explains the large redundancy required to permanently control the neutron reactivity and to remove the residual heat from the core of NPP's.

Broad implications[ edit ] Energy density differs from energy conversion efficiency net output per input or embodied energy the energy output costs to provide, as harvestingrefiningdistributing, and dealing with pollution all use energy.

Large scale, intensive energy use impacts and is impacted by climatewaste storageand environmental consequences.

No single energy storage method boasts the best in specific powerspecific energyand energy density. Peukert's Law describes how the amount of useful energy that can be obtained for a lead-acid cell depends on how quickly we pull it out.

Introduction

To maximize both specific energy and energy density, one can compute the specific energy density of a substance by multiplying the two values together, where the higher the number, the better the substance is at storing energy efficiently. Alternative options are discussed for energy storage to increase energy density and decrease charging time.

Some values may not be precise because of isomers or other irregularities. See Heating value for a comprehensive table of specific energies of important fuels. Also it is important to realise that generally the density values for chemical fuels do not include the weight of oxygen required for combustion.

This is typically two oxygen atoms per carbon atom, and one per two hydrogen atoms. The atomic weight of carbon and oxygen are similar, while hydrogen is much lighter than oxygen. Figures are presented this way for those fuels where in practice air would only be drawn in locally to the burner.

This explains the apparently lower energy density of materials that already include their own oxidiser such as gunpowder and TNTwhere the mass of the oxidiser in effect adds dead weight, and absorbs some of the energy of combustion to dissociate and liberate oxygen to continue the reaction.Today, producing hydrogen is cheaper and cleaner than ever before, and fuel cells are poised for a comeback.

Hydrogen fuel cells were once considered the future of green energy—until research on them was squeezed out of the U.S. budget. - Hydrogen Fuel Cell 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 year history, passed many of the critical tests along the path from invention to .

IAGS is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section (c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code. IAGS is not beholden to any industry or political group. Fortunately, there is an answer to this problem: hydrogen fuel cells.

Because hydrogen fuel cells are an emission-free fuel source, are more efficient than current fossil fuel sources, and have the possibility to create a diversified energy economy, more investments need to be made in this budding technology.

MDPI is a publisher of peer-reviewed, open access journals since its establishment in The idea of fuel cells dates back to the mid 's when British scientist, Sir William Robert Grove first came up with the idea of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen by the use of electricity.

Grove's work did not accomplish much until NASA began tests on it in the early s.