Environmental+Impacts+of+Fuel+Cells

= **The Environmental Impacts of Fuel Cells by Emily Turek** =

As is everything in life, hydrogen powered fuel cells have their perks and their downsides. One obvious advantage of fuel cells is using them to power vehicles. Cutting out fossil fuels from daily use would decrease much of today’s air pollution. Not only would this cut down the ever increasing amount of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere people are putting into our world, it is a fantastic substitute for fossil fuels.

The amount of fossil fuels on earth is finite, and so many peoples’ lives depend on using them for transportation. If all of a sudden, there was no more, it would cause a public devastation. Developing this technology before there is crisis not only prevents the mass hysteria that would ensue, but also cuts down on humans’ carbon footprint. This is becoming more and more important because people are realizing how much they are causing damage to the environment.

People can recycle, use solar power, and such other things to be eco-friendly, all fairly doable. With things like gas powered cars, it is much more difficult to cut them from every day life. Making this widely available could greatly decrease pollution and greatly increase the preservation of the environment. Think of just the visual impact of seeing all the cars driving by with no tail pipe smog. Not seeing that cloud the air and smell the thickness of gasoline emissions would create such a visible bearing as to how economically friendly they really are.

People see this as a great eco-friendly way to cut down on greenhouse gases and preserve the environment. What people do not see is that there is a possible downside. Reducing the output of greenhouse gas would be smiled upon because it would lessen the depletion of the earth’s atmosphere. A negative part of hydrogen powered fuel cells is the extra hydrogen. Hydrogen fuel cells in cars run completely self-sufficient by processing water to divide the oxygen from the hydrogen. The separated hydrogen would in turn be used as fuel.

Making them operate completely efficiently would be far too expensive to be able to put into affordable cars. In reality, a fraction of hydrogen would escape processing and be released. Individually, ten percent does not seem a great amount, but think about if every vehicle on the road was discharging ten percent of the hydrogen their vehicle was processing. Increasing the amount of hydrogen in the earth’s atmosphere could, in turn, lead to increased global warming. Putting fuel cells into action is all about weighing their pro’s and con’s, and their environmental impact is one of the deciding factors.

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