What different kinds of Fuels Cells are There, How Do They Differ?

Question

I am asking this question here because of alternative fuels but this question is directed toward electrical generation for buildings.

Also here is a similar question,

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Answer 1

As the other two have suggested, Hydrogen fuel cells are the most predominant fuel cell in production right now. The positive side to this technology is that instead of CO2, the cars produce H20, but they have not been able to prevent random explosions. The fuel cells must be super-cooled to keep the hydrogen from becoming unstable. In addition, ethanol, or fuel from corn, is a commonplace thing right now. Unfortunately, it takes more energy to grow the corn and harvest it than we get from ethanol. This translates to more pollution and CO2 emissions from tractors harvesting the corn.

Answer 2

There is a Hydrogen Fuel Cell which has become increasing popular lately. Hydrogen is the most abundant element on earth, so it would not be hard pressed to harvest. The byproduct of a car using a Hydrogen Fuel Cell is water. Another advantage to using a Hydrogen powered car is that you would actually be able to power your house from your car. All the energy used will be returned to the power grid. A great book to read up on that discusses alternate fuels more in depth is The End of Oil. A few years ago GM spoke about creating an alternate fuel based off of corn, but I heard it is impractical because it would take a LOT of corn to power America's cars alone. I have heard of shingles with solar powered nodes built in to power a house, but the problem with solar power is the amount of variables that could leave us powerless. Its definitely in issue thats becoming more and more important and will be getting larger and larger with the 08 presidential campaign I am sure.

Answer 3

http://world.honda.com/FuelCell/

Answer 4

There are 7 types of fuel cells:

Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (otherwise known as hydrogen fuel cells)

Phosphoric Acid (which uses liquid phosphoric acid)

Direct Methanol (which uses methanol)

Alkaline (which uses potassium hydroxide in water )

Molten Carbonate (which uses molten carbonate salt mixture)

Solid Oxide (which uses a hard, non-porous ceramic compound)

Regenerative (Reversible) Fuel Cells (which uses hydrogen and oxygen)