Environmental Impact of Fuel Cell Manufacture

摘要

Fuel Cells potentially offer environmental benefits when compared to conventional technology but it is important to consider the full environmental impact including the manufacturing and disposal steps. This paper describes a case study that compares the energy requirements for Solid Oxide Fuel Cell fabrication routes. The results show that that, when compared to the benefits during use, the associated environmental impact is relatively small. Therefore the choice of manufacturing routes will have little effect on the overall advantage of implementing Fuel Cell systems. The total environmental impact Fuel Cell fabrication will also include the production of materials. This could contribute a large share of the total environmental burden, however it could be minimised by adopting a design that allows the materials to be re-cycled in an efficient manner.