The e-Journal on Hydrogen and Fuel Cells
The splitting of water to produce hydrogen will become a requirement if renewable electricity is to be converted into other energy carriers and industrial base materials to transform the energy market and meet climate targets in Germany. Expectations are that by 2050, electrolyzer capacity will run into the tens of gigawatts countrywide. Nowadays, most devices are either customized or manufactured in small numbers. As part of a study conducted on behalf of the German transportation ministry
After three years of negotiations, the RED II bill was accepted by the European Commission, Parliament and Council in mid-June. Now, the parliament and council will need to make the agreement legally binding by approving the text of the renewable energy directive.
Robert Habeck is not your typical politician. It may be easier to picture him as a band member of Green Day than a member of a political party. This January, he entered the national stage after having been voted in as one of two co-chairs to lead the Greens in Germany. As a result, he needed to give up his post in the cabinet of Schleswig-Holstein, where he had served a second term as the state’s environment minister upon his confirmation in summer 2017.
Due to a population that continues to grow and a booming economy, India will be the country to experience the largest increase in energy demand by 2040, according to the IEA’s latest World Energy Outlook published in 2017. The immense hunger for energy is being driven mainly by additions of generation capacity as well as electric vehicles. The government knows that fossil fuels will be able to meet only part of that huge demand.
Attendees from Europe, Asia and even North America had a long way to travel to this year’s World Hydrogen Energy Conference. In the end, however, more than 550 came to the event, which took place June 17 to 22 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. They were rewarded with a lot of interesting material. What caught the imagination of many was the story of natural hydrogen
On June 11, scores of industry representatives arrived at the headquarters of the transportation ministry in Berlin to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the National Organization Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technology, better known by its German acronym NOW. However, one prominent figure was conspicuously absent
The difference between microbial fuel cells and devices converting energy by purely chemical means is that bacteria and not artificial materials, such as polymer electrolyte membranes and ceramic oxide parts, control the reaction. Instead of a catalyst, microbes will feed on organic matter, for example, wastewater and lactic acid, to generate a voltage through metabolic activity.
Biogas has, for a long time, been known as a renewable energy source. It powers not just stationary systems, that is, CHP plants, but also means of transportation, albeit in purified form. Another versatile energy carrier is hydrogen, especially considering its deployment as zero-emission storage. It can be stored and transported without major technical issues.
At the heart of every PEM fuel cell, there is a membrane electrode assembly. It has a considerable impact on the output and lifetime, as well as the cost, of a stack. It is of such import that it has sparked multiple efforts to research and develop new kinds of materials and manufacturing techniques.
Businesses need clearly defined rules to popularize new technologies among a wide variety of users. Because those in the rapidly growing market for fuel cell devices have seen limited success in standardization, several companies and institutions are now trying to create a shared set of recommendations.