The Advantages of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars

With soaring gas prices and an ever-increasing global warming problem, there is a definite need to find alternative sources of energy. Hydrogen fuel cell cars are one alternative that has show promise to be a solution to these problems we face. These cars that are powered by hydrogen have a number of advantages over vehicles that are powered by gas. This article will discuss the various advantages of hydrogen fuel cell cars.

Emissions

One of the biggest advantages of hydrogen fuel cell cars is the lack of emissions they give off. As you already know, the exhaust of cars powered by gasoline emit greenhouse gases like sulfur and carbon. Cars powered by a hydrogen fuel cell will only emit water vapor. Hydrogen cars would greatly improve the quality of the air and reduce the greenhouse emissions responsible for global warming.

Sources

Another advantage of hydrogen fuel cell cars is that there are many sources of hydrogen. Hydrogen can be produced from oil, natural gas, and coal. Hydrogen can also be made from biomass such as waste from livestock, wastewater sludge, and landfill waste. Natural elements like water, sunlight, and wind can also be used to produce produce hydrogen for hydrogen fuel cell cars.

Independence

Currently, the United States has to import more than half of the crude oil it uses from various countries. These countries have a virtual monopoly on the oil and can set prices as high as they want to. By switching to hydrogen fuel cell cars, we would no longer be dependent upon foreign energy sources. As mentioned above, hydrogen can be produced from various sources that are readily available.

Efficiency

Hydrogen is much more efficient as a source of fuel than gasoline is. Hydrogen has a higher energy density per unit mass than gasoline does, and also has a lower energy density per unit volume. This means that hydrogen fuel cell cars would need much less fuel to travel greater distances than cars powered by gasoline would be able to.