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Addressing Environmental Challenges: Summaries
- Media and the Environment
Steve Curwood, Living on Earth, NPR
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- Power Sources for the Future
Prabhu K. Rao, PhD, Nuvera Fuel Cells
Fuel Cells – Why, What, Where and When?
Global climate change and local air pollution are causing significant environmental and health concerns around the world. In the last decade the rise in the economies of China, India, Brazil and Russia have accelerated the rate of energy consumption and this put global climate change in the forefront of our lives. If this topic garners an Oscar at the Academy awards we know that billions of people around the world are aware of the issue and are probably trying to understand the significance of this in their daily lives. Like many countries around the world the United States looks at this ‘global thirst for energy’ as a national security issue. In the last few years we have seen businesses and governments around the world making strategic alliances or acquiring ‘oil’ property rights in order to secure their energy needs for the future. This jockeying for position will continue and give rise to serious tensions between the developed and developing economies around the world. Given this backdrop, there is increased focus on alternative energy, renewable energy and energy conservation. Recent focus on solar, wind, nuclear power and alternative fuels like bio-diesel and cellulosic ethanol is an indication of the interest level within the business community and government agencies.
The presentation will focus on an energy conversion technology called ‘Fuel Cells’. While fuel cell technology has been used extensively in the space program, only in the last decade, there has been renewed interest in making fuel cells a commercial reality. Given the benefits of higher efficiency and near zero emissions, fuel cells have the potential to address global climate change, local air pollution and major national security issues. The presentation will try to address the following topics:
- Overview of global energy use
- Current role of renewables and alternative energy technologies
- What are the types of fuel cells?
- How do fuel cells work?
- What are the market opportunities?
- What is the status of the development and what are the major challenges in making them a commercial reality
The presentation will provide a few examples of markets that show promise with the current status of the technology and cost structure.
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