"Why Fuel Cells?" You Ask

As I see it Hydrogen Fuel Cells are the bridge across a dichotomy in human nature, and for me, the crystallization of social change in action. The dichotomy in human nature I'm talking about is that basically everyone would like to do something about the environment, but almost no one is willing to give up the freedom they enjoy by owning an automobile or any of our other modern connivance's. I first became interested in Hydrogen Fuel Cells through a customer at the gas station where I worked in the 1990's. Back then information on Fuel Cells was virtually nonexistent despite the fact that it is now a 164 year old technology. NASA had used them in the Apollo space missions by the 1960's, but at that time there was not a lot out there on the subject.

As I looked further into it though I began to see that I wanted to be part of what I clearly saw as the emergence of a bloodless revolution in our society. It also became increasingly apparent that science and engineering were the best way I could do something about environmental pollution and make a living at as well. Unfortunately, these two ideas are often seen as being at odds with one another.

I recently saw Who Killed the Electric Car and was disappointed to see my fellow Alternative Energy brethren taking jabs at Hydrogen Fuel Cells. I was particularly put off by the "5 miracles" segment.

So It's good enough for NASA, the Chicago US and British Columbia (Canadian) transit systems among others, and thousands of fleet vehicles around the world, but it'll never be a viable technology without five miracles happening. . .

 Right. . . .

That kind of negativity and infighting will only hold us all back. It is analogous to shooting yourself in the foot because you like the way one leg walks better than the other. We need both legs to get where we're going. Besides, the hydrogen fuel cell is very similar to a battery in some respects and in fact was originally named "the constant gas battery" by its inventor, Welsh scientist William Robert Grove.

Note (The principle of the fuel cell was discovered by German scientist Christian Friedrich Schönbein in 1838 and published in the January 1839 edition of the "Philosophical Magazine". Based on this work, the first fuel cell was developed by Welsh scientist Sir William Robert Grove in 1843). Grove is credited as the inventor though.

As of this moment I am throwing down a challenge to all who read this. Join me in sweeping in The Clean Energy Era.

Chanin