3.2
Social Implications
As the fuel
can be produced domestically and from renewable sources,
electricity and hydrogen with the help of fuel cells represent
one of the most promising ways to achieve an emission
free and sustainable energy system. Fuel cells, which can provide very efficient
energy conversion route, appear to be an important technology
for the future as they operate at high efficiencies and
can run on a variety of fuels from solar hydrogen to methanol
from biomass to gasified coal. As the technology develops
and if the cost of fossil fuels continues to rise, fuel
cells will find more and more practical uses and offer
a wide range of environmental and social benefits.
Though little
social impact analysis has been done so far, as fuel cells
and hydrogen production is focussed on the development
of technology and markets, it is expected that the spread
of use will substantially support direct, indirect and
induced employment. The primary social benefit of fuel
cells, however, will appear in the form of improved human
health through reduced air pollution, contributing to
cutting down the costs for health care. It can also support
the development of new industries and related services
and provide a viable, environmentally friendly, reliable
and efficient alternative to power generation requirements
of remote communities, greatly enhancing the quality of
life.
3.3
Environmental Implications
The environmental
impacts of fuel cells depend upon the source of hydrogen
rich fuel used. If pure hydrogen is applied, fuel cells
have virtually no emission except water. At present hydrogen
is rarely used due to problems with storage and transportation,
but in the future many people have predicted the growth
of a “hydrogen economy”.
It is predominantly
during the fuel processing stage that atmospheric pollutants
are released by a fuel cell power plant. When methanol
from biomass is used as a fuel, fuel cells have no net
emissions of carbon dioxide because any carbon released
was recently taken from the atmosphere by photosynthetic
plants. Any high temperature combustion, such as the one
takes place in a spark ignition engine fuelled by methanol,
produces oxides of nitrogen (NOx), gases that contribute
to acid rain. Fuel cells virtually eliminate NOx
emissions because of the lower temperatures of their chemical
reactions. Therefore emissions from the use of alcohol
fuels in fuel cell vehicles would be a tiny fraction of
the emissions from gasoline internal-combustion-engine
vehicles, and their use in fuel cell vehicles would lead
to marked improvements in fuel economy compared to their
use in internal combustion engine vehicles.
Fuel cells, using processed fossil fuels, still have emissions
of CO2 and sulphur dioxide but these emissions
are lower than those from traditional thermal power plants
or spark ignition engines because of the higher efficiency
of fuel cell power plants. Higher efficiencies result in
less fuel being consumed to produce a given amount of electricity
or to travel a given distance. This corresponds to lower
CO2 and SO2 emissions.
Geothermal Energy and Other Distinctive Energy
Sources