• Question: have you heard of a hydrogen fuel cell?

    Asked by 08bowmanl to Charlie, Eoin, Jemma, Julian, Steve on 22 Mar 2011.
    • Photo: Eoin Lettice

      Eoin Lettice answered on 21 Mar 2011:

      Hi,
      I have heard of them and they look like promising ways of producing energy for the future. Some cars and buses are currently running with a hydrogen fuel cell, but from what I hear, the technology has a bit to go yet before it is perfected.
      It’s a really interesting a cutting-edge part of science!
      Eoin

    • Photo: Stephen Moss

      Stephen Moss answered on 21 Mar 2011:

      Hi Bowman
      No.

    • Photo: Charlie Ryan

      Charlie Ryan answered on 22 Mar 2011:

      hi 08bowmanl!
      I have heard of hydrogen fuel cells – i did a module on renewable energy whilst studying at university. What i can remember is that a hydrogen fuel cell uses hydrogen and oxygen as the fuels. A catalyst breaks down the hydrogen into ions and electrons. The electrons flow into an electrical circuit to create a source of power, and then flow back into the cell. The electron, the hydrogen ion and oxygen combine together, forming water, which is exhausted from the cell. So the only waste product is water – so its pretty environmentally friendly at first glance!
      The probelm is the creation of the hydrogen needed to run the fuel cell. Hydrogen doen’t occur by itself in nature (it’s pretty reactive), so has to be produced with the most common source being from fossil fuels. So it’s not so environmentally friendly, altho the fossil fuel source can be relatively clean, like natural gas.
      Hope that helps!

    • Photo: Jemma Ransom

      Jemma Ransom answered on 22 Mar 2011:

      A hydrogen fuel cell generates energy through an electrochemical reaction using hydrogen as a fuel source – hydrogen burns readily in air generating a large amount of energy. I believe it is currently being tested as an alternative for petrochemicals to power things like cars and trains. However, there are probably health and safety issues with this, as hydrogen is so flammable and you need to carry a lot of it to power a car, what would happen if the car crashed for instance and the fuel tank ruptured? The explosion would be far worse than that of a conventional petrol powered car.

    • Photo: Julian Rayner

      Julian Rayner answered on 22 Mar 2011:

      Heard of it, and hope they get it to work in cars soon. Hybrid cars are great, and electric cars are better, but both still use fossil fuels at some level. We need something even cleaner asap…

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