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Fuel cell technology could be designed for use with
any appliance or system requiring power. Today however, the two
biggest applicaions are foreseen to be in the transport sector
and in stationary power.
In transportation many governments are now helping
to fund industry research on fuel cells for transport and some
of the worlds largest carmakers including DaimlerChrysler, Ford, Toyota and General
Motors have already announced that they will start introducing
fuel cell cars from 2004 with small fleets vehicules.
With stationary power fuel cells can be used together with co-generation
technology for an optimized use of the fuel cell power. For more information
about co-generation or Combined Heat and Power click
here.
Fuel cells emit no particulate matter and almost
no NOx or SO2. They more than halve CO2 emissions that come out
of coal generation or energy from fossil fuels.
For more information about how fuel cells can contribute to environmental
solutions in power generation, click
here.
Fuel cell technology is still at the development
stage and hence the costs are comparatively high. By the time mass
production begins, these costs are expected to decrease as economies
of scale are reached.
Using fuel cells for combined heat and power generation
brings even more benefits compared with conventional technologies.
Using co-generation can boost efficiencies to as high as 90%, meaning
they need less fuel. more >> |
