Fuel Cells Essay, Research Paper
Electricity is a vital part of in the present day economic based world and almost impossible to do with out in this modern age. Many problems arise over the most commonly used energy sources of today such as oil, coal and even the voltaic cells used as car batteries. These resources are often expensive and are not everlasting. The process of actually producing electrical energy for daily use is inefficient since very little of the potential energy the fuel has ends up as electricity. The power generators often cause considerable harm to the environment around them as well.
If a power source that ideally would be inexhaustible and would produce the necessary amount of energy all in a manner perfectly safe to the environment, it would be the ideal and preferred means of power generation. Fuel cells offer such an alternative to today?s unproductive power sources, but the process has to be perfected and improved. The process is quite simple; hydrogen (or another fuel source) joins with oxygen in a chemical reaction creating the waste products as pure water, heat and electricity. The ?fuel? is usually very simple such as hydrogen and methane gas. With a fuel source and oxygen the cell will produce electricity forever. Fuel cells have high-energy efficiency, they are low in toxic or harmful output, and there is fuel flexibility.