Solid-Oxide Fuel Cells Stack Up to Efficient, Clean Power

摘要

For a growing number of power generators and users, fuel cells are the key to the nation's energy future. Clean, quiet, efficient, and compact, fuel cells generate electricity through chemistry instead of combustion. (See the box on p. 19.) As they become more widely used, fuel cells promise to help reduce global warming, air pollution, and U.S. dependence on foreign oil. No wonder, then, that interest in the advanced development and commercialization of fuel cells is at an all-time high. Much of this interest is focused on four types of fuel cells-solid oxide, proton exchange membrane, molten carbonate, and alkaline. A major impediment to commercialization is the manufacturing cost. In the case of solid-oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), high manufacturing, or fabrication, costs translate into capital costs that run upwards of $5,000 per kilowatt. In comparison, energy produced by conventional power plants has a capital cost of about $500 per kilowatt.