Hydrogen Fuel Cells & the Environment

Hydrogen is very combustible, just like gasoline. However, containers suitable for holding hydrogen are put through many rigorous tests to make sure they are safe for the public. Hydrogen is composed of very small, light molecules, and it is much less dense than air. This means that a hydrogen leak will tend to disperse very rapidly upward into the air, unlike a gasoline leak that will pool below a vehicle and remain a hazard until it evaporates. The same precautions that people exercise at gas stations must also be used at hydrogen filling stations, such as not smoking and not using a cell phone.

The only by-products from combining hydrogen and oxygen in a fuel cell are water and heat, so hydrogen fuel cells do not emit greenhouse gases or other air pollutants in the way that engines that use fossil fuels do. However, to produce hydrogen, one must use another source of energy. If fossil fuels are used as either the source of hydrogen or the source of energy for producing the hydrogen, then the net process does produce greenhouse gases. However, if water is used as the source of hydrogen and the process of making the hydrogen is powered by renewable sources of energy, such as solar or wind, then the use of hydrogen fuel cells is completely clean and sustainable and adds no greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.

To learn more about Hydrogen Fuel Cell Safety visit our Hydrogen Fuel Cell Safety Online Training web page.