Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
through pipelines and then used on board the vehicle to
generate electricity in a fuel cell. You might well ask why
we should go through all this when we have a perfectly
good way to move the electricity itself. I have asked this
question myself and have never gotten a good answer.
Setting that aside, there are some basic science questions
that need to be answered before hydrogen can be con-
sidered as a large-scale fuel source. The
first of these has
to do with the fuel cell itself. Currently, ef
ciency of the
fuel cell is low. The target is about
% for turning
hydrogen into electricity, but the best that seems to be
doable now is about
% and at full load none so far does
even that well.
The second problem has to do with the platinum cata-
lyst that up to now has been the favored material to make
the fuel cell work ef
ciently. Too much is required today,
but advocates say the amount can be reduced and some say
that other less costly catalysts can be used. Until a better
system of catalysis is developed, hydrogen fuel-cell
vehicles cannot be more than a niche market. The fuel
cells should be sent back to the basic research laboratories.
There are other problems as well. Hydrogen produc-
tion ef
ciency is below target, a new pipeline system is
needed to distribute the gas, and a better on-board
storage system is needed. I have never understood why
hydrogen has gotten so much R&D money and batteries
so little.
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Buildings
We each spend more than
% of our time indoors
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working, shopping, eating, entertaining, and sleeping
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in
