Analysis of life-cycle costs and benefits of hydrogen fuel cells
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Inside: EDITORIAL
Analysis of life-cycle costs and benefits of hydrogen fuel cells ENERGY SECTOR ANALYSIS
Artificial intelligence is aiding the search for energy materials ENERGY SECTOR ANALYSIS
Materials challenges in the hydrogen cycle ENERGY QUARTERLY ORGANIZERS CHAIR Shirley Meng, University of California, San Diego, USA Andrea Ambrosini, Sandia National Laboratories, USA Monika Backhaus, Corning Incorporated, France Kristen Brown, Commonwealth Edison Company, USA David Cahen, Weizmann Institute, Israel Russell R. Chianelli, The University of Texas at El Paso, USA George Crabtree, Argonne National Laboratory, USA Elizabeth A. Kócs, University of Ilinois at Chicago, USA Sabrina Sartori, University of Oslo, Norway Subhash L. Shinde, University of Notre Dame, USA Anke Weidenkaff, University of Stuttgart, Germany M. Stanley Whittingham, Binghamton University, The State University of New York, USA Steve M. Yalisove, University of Michigan, USA
Images incorporated to create the energy puzzle concept used under license from Shutterstock.com. "Artificial intelligence is aiding the search for energy materials" title image credit: University of Houston. "Materials challenges in the hydrogen cycle" title image credit: Shutterstock.
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Analysis of life-cycle costs and benefits of hydrogen fuel cells
Life-cycle analysis (LCA) of energy devices should focus on that technology’s total impact. In LCAs of fuel cells, efficiency is typically a focus. At times, this becomes a hyperfocus, even to the point of ending the conversation. Hydrogen proton-exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells, and the related electrolyzers that produce hydrogen, are cited as too inefficient, among other criticisms of manufacturability and cost. In these analyses, however, we must include the broader impact of fuel cells and see how the overall gains surpass these apparent shortcomings. Efficiency matters in the grandest context: to remove carbon from our emissions. If overall electrical generation efficiency were the only metric of merit, then coal plants would not be displaced by solar and wind power. Renewable power generation continues to grow because of its ability to help us move beyond carbon. California provides an interesting example of losing sight of this goal. While leading in deployment of solar power, California has also built natural-gas peaking plants to provide capacity late in the day as solar output declines (the “duck” curve). To move beyond carbon, this is not a viable long-term path. Fuel cells, on the other hand, which kept the lights on and cell towers running after Hurricane Sandy, are known by grid operators as readily sited, scalable, and couple perfectly with renewables. PEM electrolyzers can absorb every electron produced by intermittent renewable power generation. At this system level, it’s clear how renewable hy
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