Bond dissociation energies as close enough approximations.
H-H, 436 kJ/mol, H-C, 413 kJ/mol, H-O, 366 kJ/mol, O=O, 498 kJ/mol
science.uwaterloo.ca/~cchieh/cact/c120/bondel.html

"This reaction in a single fuel cell produces only about 0.7 volts. To get this voltage up to a reasonable level, many separate fuel cells must be combined to form a fuel-cell stack. PEMFCs operate at a fairly low temperature (about 176 degrees Fahrenheit, 80 degrees Celsius), which means they warm up quickly and don't require expensive containment structures. Constant improvements in the engineering and materials used in these cells have increased the power density to a level where a device about the size of a small piece of luggage can power a car."
howstuffworks.com/fuel-cell2.htm

"What kind of fuel does a fuel cell need to operate? Fuel cells operate using hydrogen fuel and oxygen from the air. Hydrogen can be obtained through reforming or chemically converting hydrocarbon based fuels such as natural gas, methanol, or gasoline to release the hydrogen so that it can be used by the fuel cell. Fuel cell systems that are not fueled by pure hydrogen will contain a reformer subsystem to convert the source fuel used to the hydrogen required by the fuel cell. Hydrogen can also be produced by water electrolysis, which uses electricity to split hydrogen and oxygen elements."
ballard.com/genfuel.asp

"How is hydrogen produced? Hydrogen can be produced in large amounts from primary energy sources, such as fossil fuels (coal, oil, or natural gas), from a variety of chemical intermediates (refinery products, ammonia, methanol) and from alternative resources such as biomass, biogas, and waste materials. Hydrogen can also be produced by water electrolysis, which uses electricity to split hydrogen and oxygen elements."
ballard.com/genfuel.asp

" The use of gasoline or methanol in today's fuel cell vehicles also requires the use of an onboard fuel processor, which extracts hydrogen from the stored fuel. Ballard is currently developing Direct Methanol Fuel Cell technology that allows the use of methanol as fuel without requiring a fuel processor."
ballard.com/marknprod.asp

"Reformers generate heat and produce other gases besides hydrogen. They use various devices to try to clean up the hydrogen, but even so, the hydrogen that comes out of them is not pure, and this lowers the efficiency of the fuel cell."
howstuffworks.com/fuel-cell3.htm

"Efficiency of Fuel Cells
This exercise points out the importance of considering the whole system, not just the car. We could even go a step further and ask what the efficiency of producing gasoline, methanol or coal is..." -- How Fuel Cells Work, a multi part series by Karim Nice.
howstuffworks.com/fuel-cell4.htm

"Electricity is clean and fast, but cannot be effectively stored. Hydrogen can be readily stored and transported. Hydrogen can make electricity, and electricity can make hydrogen. Together, they create an energy loop that is completely renewable and harmless to the environment"
HydrogenUS.com/nha_bro2.htm

An energy loop that is completely renewable and evironmentally harmless? Great, where do we sign up for that? Wake up and smell the coffee. Hydrogen as a secondary energy source requires a input of from a primary energy source. This primary energy has to come from somewhere and is expended as an end product which does not re-enter a closed loop. That's just the beginning of bogus implications regarding fuel cells.

We sifted through all the sites about fuel cells and renewables. Most of the sites had a definite one-sided bias. There are sites for companies or organizations dedicated to the commercialization of their product in particular or to a technology in general. There are some quasi-informational sites dedicated to the propositions that fuel cells are 80% efficient, use water or hydrocarbons as energy sources, fuel cell applications preliminarily use exotic materials and processes in the early stages of development which will be refined down to somethimg more mundane, and regardless of the hoops through which engineers must jump fuel cells are the future. That's all well and good. We don't have a problem with any of that. But we still wanted to find a website which would tell the big picture story. That's when we found a website which although having children as its ostensible primary demographic target, managed to put everything into a big picture perspective. By big picture perspective, we mean that they cover the key area of concern viz a viz the subject of fundamental physics, the overall efficiency of the conversion of energy through all of the component intermediary physical systems from beginning to end. Almost anyway, they did leave out some stuff such as the energy costs of implimenting the infrastructures for the technology, but those considerations are not really pertinent to an understanding of the technologies themselves. Because in fact they went a step further than what we would have expected and actually gave a comparison of the overall efficiencies of gasoline, battery and fuel cell power for cars as part of their presentation of fuel cell technology as a whole. It is therein that the crux of the matter lies. Without knowing overall energy conversion efficiencies, and by relying solely on claims of 80% or 90% energy conversion efficiency for single components of the combimed physical systems invloved, the picture painted seems rosier than is actually the case. And it becomes quite easy for both the total energy costs and the potential ecological costs which are the most important considerations, to be glossed over, or worse, to be ignored. This amounts to hype at best and intellectual dishonesty at worst.
howstuffworks.com/fuel-cell1.htm

How Fuel Cells Work:
Introduction to How Fuel Cells Work, What is a Fuel Cell? Proton Exchange Membrane, Problems with Fuel Cells, Efficiency of Fuel Cells, Other Types of Fuel Cells, Applications of Fuel Cells, Lots More Information
howstuffworks.com/fuel-cell.htm

"In fuel cells, as in batteries, silent reactions produce an electric current. Unlike batteries, however, fuel cells are almost endlessly rechargeable. The cells run on hydrogen, which reacts with oxygen from the air in such a way that a voltage is generated between two electrodes; the reactions occur in a chemical mediator known as an electrolyte. (Some designs consume hydrogen directly; others start with natural gas that is converted to hydrogen before entering the cell.) Compared with conventional fossil-fuel power sources, fuel cells are exceptionally clean and efficient. Practically their only waste product is water; natural gas-fueled cells do produce some carbon dioxide as well, though less than would be created if the fuel were burned..." Scientific American.
sciam.com/explorations/122396explorations.html

Los Alamos National Laboratory: A comprehensive 32 page tutorial on Fuel Cells
education.lanl.gov/resources/fuelcells
Union of Concerned Scientists www.ucsusa
National Hydrogen Association www.ttcorp.com/nha
American Methanol Institute, www.methanol.org
Fuel Cells 2000 www.fuelcells.org
Ballard Power Systems, General Fuel Cell Information,
ballard.com/genfuel.asp

Ballard Power Systems, Inc., headquarted in British Columbia, Canada, is a leader in the development and commercial production of various types of commercially viable fuel cell product applications. Ballard Power systems will commercially produce these fuel cell stacks. According to Ballard, "Our business involves supplying fuel cells to original equipment manufacturers who integrate them into their products. When fuel cell products become available consumers will be able to purchase products using Ballard fuel cells from these original equipment manufacturers."
Frequently asked questions:
ballard.com/marknprod.asp

"Do all fuel cell vehicles produce zero emissions? Fuel cell vehicle emissions vary based on the type of fuel carried onboard. Only vehicles fuelled by an onboard supply of pure hydrogen achieve zero emissions. Fuel cell vehicles fuelled by onboard supplies of gasoline or methanol produce only trace amounts of smog-causing pollutants, such as oxides of nitrogen, and greenhouse gas emissions in the range of 20 to 30 per cent less than an equivalent internal combustion engine-powered vehicle." Ballard Power Systems stated straightforwardly at: ballard.com/marknprod.asp

"When will fuel cell cars be available to the public? Automotive companies will determine when fuel cell powered cars will be available to the public. Auto manufacturers including DaimlerChrysler, Ford, General Motors, Toyota and Honda have stated they plan to have fuel cell powered cars available in 2003-2005. Ballard and XCELLSIS Fuel Cell Engines plan to have fuel cells and fuel cell engines for automobiles ready for auto makers to achieve their goals."
ballard.com/marknprod.asp

Drilling in Detroit: how to save 75% in fuel costs without sacrificing speed or safety.
" The fuel economy of today's cars and light trucks is at its lowest point in 20 years."
"Relying on hybrid electric vehicle technologies could bring the (American car) fleet to at least 55 miles per gallon. Such a fleet would more than double current fuel economy levels and could save consumers between $3,500 and over $6,500 in fuel costs. Hybrid electric vehicle technologies could enable a family car to reach nearly 60 mpg, while an SUV could cross the 50 mpg mark. A simultaneous move to fuel cell vehicles could lead to a tripling of the fuel economy of family cars and could significantly reduce fuel costs for all drivers" -- Union of Concerned Scientists.
ucsusa.org/vehicles/drill_detroit-exec.html

Fuel Cell Technology
John Magner, The Woodlands, Texas, Letter to Editor of Chemical and Engineering News, August 25, 2003 Volume 81, Number 34
"Our nation's real need for a viable long-term solution to renewable energy, especially for private transportation, is not well served by articles that paint a fanciful picture of the promise of fuel cells (C&EN, June 9, page 35; June 16, page 16). Economically viable solutions for the following fuel-cell challenges seem highly unlikely in the foreseeable future.
PEM Engine Cost
"The total cost (without subsidy) of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel-cell engines (fuel cells, power conditioning, electric motors, and so on) with mass low enough to be practical in a vehicle is in the range of $3,000-$7,000 per kW--40 times that of the advanced diesel engine. It is worth noting that PEM fuel cells have been in use and development for 40 years, and costs have not yet begun to drop significantly--notwithstanding many assertions to the contrary (such as those in the June 16 article) that use artificial costs from heavily subsidized projects or cite costs of massive, stationary fuel cells that are unsuitable for vehicles."
Hydrogen Storage
"Safety-approved affordable compressed-gas cylinders achieve 1.5% H2 storage by mass at 34 MPa (5,000 psi). A $25,000 carbon-fiber-wrapped fuel tank achieving 6% H2 storage seems impractical for the small private car, and liquid hydrogen (LH2) doesn't keep long. The huge mass penalty associated with economical H2 storage seems likely to keep the mileage of fuel-cell-powered automobiles (of acceptable range, acceleration, cost, and cargo capacity) below 25 miles per kg of H2 for many decades."
Hydrogen Production
"Current U.S. H2 production is enormous--about 2 x 10,000,000,000 kg per year. Yet the current pretax cost of LH2, delivered in 15,000-gal (4,300-kg) tankers to high-volume customers, is $4.30 per kg, and other methods of H2 distribution are even more expensive. On the other hand, the current U.S. pretax cost of gasoline for the individual consumer at the local station is about 30 cents per kg."
Hydrogen Source
"The only economically viable sources of H2 in the U.S. are natural gas and coal. The nearly adiabatic partial-oxidation/reformation/shift reactions use 3 kg of natural gas (90% CH4) to produce 1 kg of H2 plus 9.5 kg of CO2. Then more than 3 kg of coal must be burned (releasing another 10 kg of CO2) to generate the 10 kWh (36 MJ) needed to purify and liquefy 1 kg of H2. The energy efficiency in producing LH2 is under 50%. (This number has not budged in 15 years and will not in the next 50. We're near Carnot limits.) The energy content of 1 kg of H2 is equivalent to 2.8 kg (1.1 gal) of gasoline, which contains only 2.3 kg of carbon."
Miles Per Kg CO2
"At 80 miles per gallon, the advanced diesel hybrid achieves 7 miles per kg of total CO2. The fuel-cell automobile at 25 miles per kg of hydrogen achieves 1.1-1.3 miles per kg of total CO2. Hence, when miles per kg of CO2 release ("fossil mileage") is more fairly calculated, the total CO2 generated per mile by a hydrogen vehicle is likely to be five times that of a comparable diesel-powered hybrid vehicle for at least four decades. (If we have not been able to raise fuel taxes a nickel in the past two decades, how can we expect to impose a $1.00 per kg surtax on H2 production to support CO2 sequestration?)"
DOE position
"It is most interesting to note that, seven years ago, the Department of Energy expected fleets of fuel-cell-powered vehicles to be in use by now. Today, they are projecting that will occur seven years from now. Undoubtedly, if DOE invests $2 billion (as expected) over the next seven years, many more demonstration vehicles (at $300,000 each) will be on the road, but that really does not accomplish much. I expect to still see that "seven-year" projection for commercial fleets 20 years from now. It's time we start putting some serious money into real options for our future transportation needs."
groups.yahoo.com/group/energyresources/message/42128

Laws of Ecology
Biodiversity Decay
Special Animals
Biodiversity
Glossary

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