Fuel Cells and Hydrogen

Electricity is an enormously important and versatile energy carrier. Unfortunately, traditional methods of producing it are messy and inefficient, and it can't be stored in large quantities.

Over the next few decades, hydrogen and fuel cells will change all that. Fuel cells — devices that produce electricity via chemical reactions rather than combustion — convert fuel into electricity two or three times more efficiently than power plants or internal combustion engines do, and produce far fewer toxic emissions or noise. They also permit the storage and distribution of energy in the form of a fuel, most commonly hydrogen. Moreover, this fuel can be renewably derived from water and clean energy, or (as a transitional step) from natural gas. The coming "hydrogen economy" will pair electricity with hydrogen to produce an energy system that is safer, cleaner, and even more versatile than the one we know today.

When used in concert, electricity and hydrogen form an ideal energy-carrier system. Electricity can be generated from intermittent renewable sources, and hydrogen can be safely stored. Fuel cells can then produce on-demand electrical energy to power your home, your laptop or your cell phone, and even power your car. For a variety of reasons (see: Why Hydrogen?), hydrogen will displace fossil fuels as the blood of our future energy infrastructure. Fuel cells will play a critical role in this coming hydrogen economy.

RMI is helping leading companies, policy-makers, and researchers worldwide to accelerate this clean-energy revolution on various fronts.

• Fuel Cells
• Hydrogen