Fuel Cell Power: the Energy of the Future

Author: Silvester Thompson

According to Makino, a global provider of advanced machining technology, technologically advanced vertical machining centers are proven to be the ideal method for machining and manufacturing molds for the production of fuel cell power stack separator plate membranes. These membranes are the key to producing affordable fuel cell power stacks.





Certain rigid and thermally stable vertical machining centers can produce a depth accuracy within 2 microns, and a superior surface finish quality of 0.4 microns in 40 Rockwell C steel molds, both of which are essential in making such plastic and rubber membranes.





These membranes have to be of high quality and specification to establish the proper electrochemical conversion process to convert hydrogen and oxygen from the air into water. The process flow then produces electricity and heat, especially when configured in a fuel cell stack via a reformer, which controls and regulates the hydrogen for safety.





Such an electrolyte or proton-exchange membrane separates and buffers the negatively charged anodes, repelling electrons, and the positively charged cathodes, attracting electrons. The membrane allows the electrons to flow through it to the cathode side of the fuel cell stack, generating electricity. Combustible fuels burn, and standard batteries store electrical energy as chemical energy and convert it back again. But a fuel cell stack provides direct current power.





Unlimited supplies of fuel cell stack energy can be created via the mass production of low-cost membranes, which can be a growing market for most machine shops equipped with technologically advanced verticals. This energy source can not only be used as power for automobiles but also as power for utility companies and home generation units, offering the world low-cost, safe, quiet, efficient, environmentally friendly and readily available power solutions.

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Renewable Energy Resources versus Fossil Fuels

Author: Bryan Wong

In modern western world the demand for energy has increased dramatically in the past century and it will grow even further and harder in the near future than ever before. The need for energy rises with upcoming markets that also need more energy. Energy is needed for cars, buses, and other means of transportation, but also to run our appliances and provides us light. Energy is also important for our safety. At night or in the dark a lot can be stolen without proper lightning. Energy is therefore needed for our development and safety.

The way we use energy today comes from knowledge that has it's foundations in the past century and before. Great men like Newton and Philips have set the path for us today to make proper use of energy. The sources which we use for our energy demand are known as non-renewable energy resources. These sources will be discussed here in the article.

Definition of Non-Renewable Energy Resources

The name really explains it very well. Non-renewable energy resources are natural resources that cannot be recycled or re-grown. These natural resources are fossil fuels like coal, petroleum, and natural gas. It also includes mined resources such as the elements used in the production of electricity (uranium and plutonium, for instance). These resources replenish itself in a quicker rate.

Fossil fuels are very versatile. One of their functions is to generate electricity. In order to generate electricity, fossil fuels are burned through the process of combustion. The energy produced from the combustion process is used to power a turbine. The turbine is responsible for the conversion of energy produced from combusted fossil fuels into electricity.

Coal

Coal is one the most used fossil fuels. It is consider too be the most important energy source to produce electricity. The U.S. produces 50% of its energy supply through the combustion of coal. The coal itself is a brownish-black sedimentary rock which contains carbon and other assorted elements. It is extracted from the ground through underground mining or open-pit mining.

Natural Gas

Natural gas is also used to produce electricity. The electricity is produced through steam turbines and gas turbines. Because the gas contains methane the combustion emits less harmful gasses that have a negative effect on global warming. Thus natural gasses are better for the environment compared to petroleum and coal.

There is also another use for it and that is as fuel for cars. It is much cheaper that gasoline and produces less harmful gasses. The disadvantage of running your car on natural gas is that you need more fuel compared to gasoline and the car needs more maintenance. In countries like Argentina, Brazil, Pakistan, Italy, The Netherlands and India it is used as a fuel for cars.

Crude oil

This fuel is the most talk about for the past year(s). The prices for crude oil have gone through the roof and will be rising even more. The demand is increasing while there is less crude oil available. The term black gold is now more applicable than ever before.

The oil itself is very think in consistency and has a dark brown or greenish colour characteristic. It is a complex mixture of different hydrocarbons.

Crude oil or petroleum has various uses. It can be used as fuel or cars and different industrial machines. It is also used as a raw material for products like plastics, solvents, fertilizers and pesticides.

Although the need for crude oil is high and the demand is rising the available crude oil is decreasing. That leaves us no other option than to look for alternatives.

Non-renewable energy plays a very important role in our daily lives. Non-renewable energy will be needed today and in the future. Because this energy source cannot be recycled or re-grown the reserves are limited. The consequences of the shortages of fossil fuels are experienced today and tomorrow. We will need to use these fossil fuels wisely and will need to shift our focus to other renewable energy source. These are the sources that we need to focus on today and years to come.

About the Author:
Bryan Wong is the owner of the renewable-energy information website
www.GetEasyInfo.com/renewable-energy > - A great website that shares quality Info, News and TIPS on Renewable energy.

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Renewable Energy - Sources That Never Get Exhausted

Author: Matthew Hick

Fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas, and coal are used around the world as primary sources of energy. Because they are being used up much faster than they can be renewed, they are known as nonrenewable sources.



Nonrenewable energy sources represent about 90% of the energy used today. These sources are being depleted. Since they are known to have an effect on air quality, causing human and environmental health problems, a greater emphasis is being placed on renewable energy sources as the new frontier for energy. Renewable energy sources consist of solar, hydro, biomass, geothermal and ocean. These sources of energy will never become exhausted and are environmentally friendly, since they do not contribute to greenhouse effects or global warming.



Solar energy is the most readily available renewable energy source. We have used the sun's energy for billions of years. Prehistoric men magnified its strength to start fires. Today, solar panels absorb energy from the sun to produce heat for cooking and heating, as well as, for electrical needs. This heat absorption is stored for later use and is an indirect conversion of energy. Currently, electric companies are trying to use photovoltaic technologies to convert solar energy directly to electricity.



Hydro energy draws on energy produced by flowing water. Waves are the result of wind interacting with the surface of the sea. This interaction produces a transfer of energy that can be extracted for power generation using turbine generators. Although hydropower is non-polluting, it can do environmental harm. Hydroelectric generating stations can change the flow of the sea and in doing so harm plants and animals.



Wind energy, or kinetic energy, is drawn from the movement of air. It has been used for hundreds of years for sailing, grinding grain and irrigation. Today, wind turbines transform energy from wind to mechanical energy or to charge batteries. The wind machines, or wind turbines collect the kinetic energy by capturing the wind in its blades. The blades then turn an electric generator to produce energy. Unfortunately, wind energy collection is unavailable on windless days. Even though it is a clean form of energy it has had a negative effect on the wild bird population and some consider the giant wind turbine machines not attractive looking.



Biomass energy comes from wood, garbage, food crops, manure, grasses and plants, agricultural and forestry waste and residue. It basically comes from refuse. This renewable energy is also not new. It was used over 100 years ago in the form of wood burning, which supplied 90% of energy needs at that time. When biomass is burned, it produces heat or electricity. It can also be converted to methane gas, which is the main ingredient of natural gas. It represents 3% of the energy in the United States. Although biomass can pollute the air and releases a greenhouse gas, it is not as pollutant as fossil fuels.



Geothermal energy is basically the Earth's heat. It is drawn from hot dry rocks, magma, hot water springs and hot geysers. These are found inside the Earth's underground. Some are found deep in the earth's surface and others are found closer to the surface. Today, this type of energy is used to heat water in swimming pools and spas, as well as, to warm buildings like greenhouses. It can also be used to produce electricity through the use of a geothermal power plant. In these plants the hot water travels through turbines, which are connected to a generator.



Ocean Energy is obtained from ocean waves or temperature differences in water. Wave energy is the kinetic energy from the movement of water. Tidal energy entails trapping tidal waves in reservoirs behind dams. Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion uses the differences in water temperatures from the surface water to deeper down depths of water as an energy source. In order for this to work there must be a temperature difference of 38 degrees Fahrenheit.



As you can see, there are various renewable energy sources available to us as an alternative to fossil fuels. There are many advantages to them among the most popular being that they will not deplete in supply, meaning they will be around forever. Renewable energy sources are not new. They have been utilized in some way for many years. Unfortunately, low fossil fuel prices have stunted renewable energy's popularity and growth in the United States. But an increasing awareness of human and environmental concerns, as well as, a need to find non-exhaustible energy sources, will keep it as a mainstay for the future.

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Fuel Alternatives and Energy Sources

Author: Joan Barton

Fuel Alternatives, the 20th century has built itself mostly around energy produced from nonrenewable sources with harmful emissions, presently much of the world uses oil/gas and nuclear power, and (a renewable source) hydroelectric for power production. In the 1970s, the price of fossil fuels, rose considerably inspiring governments to seek more oil, this solved the problem temporarily now in 21st Century, with the cost of fossil fuels rising higher still, it has sent many of the larger oil companies scurrying to the oil sands project in Alberta. Where there is a plentiful yet hard to get to supply of energy in the form of Bitumen, however with the high carbon emissions from this project. It is hardly a viable option environmentally, with the the high cost of oil and our realization that its carbon emissions cause global warming, this drives consumers and inventors towards renewable energy resources, many areas are being investigated. Fuel Alternative solutions include

* Hydrogen
* Wind
* Garbage
* Geothermal
* Solar
* Tidal

Hydrogen water power is mostly being considered in vehicles, contrary to earlier research it is possible to harness the power of water in various ways, one being separating hydrogen and oxygen atoms and putting them back together to produce energy, this has already been put in action and used in successfully in engines. The Oceans power is being harnessed, by various companies investigating different methods of doing so, some by using turbines that look like large propellers, others have survivable aquabouys floating on the surface, using the up and down wave motion of the to drive turbines and generate power is then sent to a central grid. In tropical areas near the equator the surface of the ocean's water becomes heated, an innovative group of engineers have designed a method of harnessing this heat energy into power using a generator on a floating platform and some very large pipes, to make electricity when the water cools its sent back to the ocean to heat up again, always being recycled. Geothermal heat, is that which dwells deep beneath the earth's service for this method of energy conversion, deep holes are drilled in five or 6000 feet into the earth where it connects with thermally heated water, natural pressure brings his water through the pipe to the station that converts it into power, then sends the water back, to be reheated.

Solar power is one we are all familiar with, having been around for many years, its application is becoming more prevalent as the photovoltaic panels are more efficient. These days wind power from giant wind turbine farms goes to producing electricity, rather and powering a mechanical grinding mill, its then sent to a central collecting station, now there are personal wind turbines around perfect for places where bylaws allow. Wind turbines have been in place, especially in Europe for at the least 25 years.

Another method of energy conversion has been devised, collecting methane from deteriorating garbage, that can be turned into energy, then it can be used in all kinds of applications. With all these energy-saving, energy collecting devices, and reusable resources, the future can be less reliant upon fossil fuels. Energy efficient homes will become a normal necessity as populations increase demand for energy increases, with the demand for food, It is foreseeable that one day, each home can provide its own power, be fuel and water efficient, running with very low carbon emissions algae powered vehicles, solar heated water and wind/sun powered electricity, all running in harmony, what a shame, we wait for conditions to become practically critical in order to implement them.

The old-style electric power stations are an inefficient use of fossil fuels as an extraordinary amount of energy is simply wasted, the cooling towers blow away heat/power that could be harnessed in fact, over two thirds of the energy that is put into them is wasted.

In thermodynamic terms you can run an engine on heat if you have a warm reservoir and a cold reservoir, a heat engine is simply a very conventional system where boiling a working fluid that is then run through a turbine, the turbine is connected to a generator and it makes electricity, after it runs through the turbine, it gets in touch with the cold water and it condenses back to liquid. It's very simple conceptually and it uses the fact that heated liquid flows to cold to run this engine."One of the by-products of the condensation is fresh water, if the system is open-cycle, meaning the working fluid is seawater. In a closed-cycle system, which typically uses ammonia as the working fluid, fresh water is not produced, but the size of the turbine can be significantly smaller, reducing capital costs.

Fuel Alternatives one day will not be so alternative.

By J Barton

About the Author:

Preserving earth is passionate about the environment, helping to spread the very real global environmental concerns, showing that one person can make a difference by being a thoughtful consumer.

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