Alternative Energy

At present, car manufacturers worldwide are looking at hydrogen fuel cells are an alternative to the combustion engines. There are already pictures of hydrogen powered vehicles online; if you want, you can check them out if you have the time. If ever the hydrogen powered vehicles will become a reality in the near future, the dependency of many countries to petroleum will be reduced and not only that, pollution will be cut down. The hydrogen fuel cells are just like traditional batteries. A chemical reaction produces electricity and electrical charge. However, there is still a difference.

You see, with batteries, power is produced if the cell is continuously supplied with hydrogen. To understand how the fuel cells work, read on. The cell’s size and hydrogen flow determines the electricity produced. When a chemical reaction occurs between air and hydrogen, three things are produced namely heat, water, and electricity. Fuel cells lower heat output as compared to other sources of energy like the fossil fuels. But still, there are advantages in using hydrogen fuel cells. Whenever electricity is required, you can use fuel cells. The size of fuel cells is scalable.

Fuel cells can therefore be created small to power an MP3 player or even large enough to give a town its needed electrical power. Aside from providing electrical power to certain things, it can also supply the needed rotary power by cars.One obvious advantage is that fuel cells are clean since the byproducts are heat and water. These byproducts can’t harm the environment. Fuel cells have efficiency rates ranging from 45-53% as compared to gasoline with only 20% efficiency rate. Currently, fuel cells are installed in some neighborhoods and industrial buildings to provide electrical power. Within the next 50-100 years, hydrogen fuel cells will completely replace petroleum since they have broad social and commercial applications.