Comments on: Fall of nuclear could give boost to fuel cells

By: Gaetano Marano

Gaetano Marano — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:23:45 +0000

the fuel cells are too expensive

By: Uwe Albrecht

Uwe Albrecht — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 07:26:10 +0000

@Jonathan: Most large stationary fuel cells (MCFC or SOFC) do not require hydrogen as a fuel but can actually run on natural gas or similar fuels at pretty high efficiency; this also holds for the products from FuelCell Energy.
Separately, many countries are ramping up renewable energy generation fast (Germany already passed the 20% mark of electricity from renewables this year) with growth coming largely from wind and solar, which are both fluctuating. As a result, you will increasing see times where renewable energy is produced but cannot be used at the time, eventually leading to a necessity for large scale storage in the TWh range. Producing hydrogen and using it as a chemical energy storage is one of the few options being discussed, and there is a good chance that you see ‘green’ hydrogen becoming available trough that route pver the next years.

By: Rob (Bob) Wilcox

Rob (Bob) Wilcox — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:14:10 +0000

I am a big believer in fuel cells. And Japan has an export-worthy Ene-farm program. But Japan imports its natural gas. So a better solution for base load there is geothermal. Likewise converting transport to renewables with electric vehicles would be a good strategy for Japan, and Nissan, Toyota and Mitsubishi are focused on it. Wave and offshore wind varies, but not to the extent of onshore wind and solar. Again a good source for Japan. Japan will be a great market for smart grid technologies and Japanese consumers have a much greater apetite for in-home energy management than in the US.

By: Jonathan Jeckell

Jonathan Jeckell — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 11:45:40 +0000

This is completely backwards. Fuel cells convert a fuel (such as hydrogen) into electricity. You can’t mine hydrogen on Earth, and nuclear power plants & renewables are the cleanest ways to make it. So closure of nuclear plants takes away options to make fuel cells viable…unless you want to burn coal or natural gas to make it, which defeats the purpose.