Fuel Cells: Reliability and National Security
One of the greatest benefits of fuel cell technology is its high reliability, making it ideal for emergency or backup power in critical facilities like hospitals, banks, and security facilities. Today’s fuel cells may also help us move towards national independence from fossil fuels. However, fuel cell development must be advanced further in order to fully realize these benefits.
Reliability and durability
Fuel cells have a distinct advantage over other clean generators such as wind turbines and photovoltaics in that they can produce continuous and consistent power as long as they are supplied with a steady supply of hydrogen. The ability to produce continuous power makes fuel cells well suited for supporting critical loads or emergency applications. The power output of fuel cells is also high quality in that it is “clean” computer-grade power free from voltage disturbances such as sags, spikes, or transients that affect the performance of some other technologies.
Another advantage of fuel cells is that the fuel cell stack (the powerhouse of the system) does not contain any moving parts, which typically increase the risk of mechanical breakdowns in other generators. As the technology matures, fuel cells may become more reliable than conventional engines. In addition to low noxious air emissions, fuel cells can produce significant amounts of electrical and thermal power with much less noise than standard generators. These factors are viewed favorably when siting fuel cell systems in populated areas and even inside facilities.
Several design improvements will greatly help fuel cells become more widely accepted as a clean electricity source and will prove the adaptability of fuel cells to a variety of applications. Systems must be smaller, weigh less, and become less sensitive to chemical impurities. Along the same lines, certain fuel cell system components—like the cell stack which can require a costly replacement every one to ten years, depending on the model—must be developed to have a longer lifespan or be easily and cheaply replaced. A longer lifespan will help fuel cells compete with traditional systems like today’s automotive engines.
National security
Because fuel cells consume fossil fuels more efficiently than the combustion processes used in typical oil, coal, and gas applications, they have the potential to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign fossil fuel sources. This benefit could be enhanced if future fuel cell power comes from renewable sources rather than fossil fuels.