As manufacturers of cars and buses struggle to comply with increasingly stringent environmental rules for fuel economy and low toxic emission levels, in the wake of spiraling costs of gasoline and diesel fuel, they have been focusing on fuel ceils as a viable alternative source of power. But most types of fuel cells use platinum as a catalyst to trigger the chemical reaction in fuel cells to produce electricity-and therein lies a major problem. With platinum prices hovering around 1,000 dollars/oz, and mine supply seeming barely adequate to satisfy the growing demand for industrial purposes-mainly auto catalyst, diesel catalysts and jewelry-some analysts are skeptical that platinum-based fuel cells are a commercially viable alternative to fossil fuel. Some even argue that widespread use of fuel-cell vehicles is far down the road, since the technology is still in its early stage of development.
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