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Many countries around the world have been diligently working towards implementing renewable energy plants for over a decade. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), renewables in the form of hydropower, bioenergy, wind and solar will account for 18% of primary energy by 2035. Since 2013, more electrical grid capacity was added...

If you are considering the installation of a solar system (by yourself or by a solar company), there are several codes and regulations that need to be adhered to. These include the National Electrical Code (NEC), local permits, building codes, fire codes, and grounding systems. In addition, every component in a...

Fuel cells can be used to power the electric motor of buses, utility vehicles, and electric scooters. The vast majority of these fuel cells use oxygen from the air and compressed hydrogen; therefore, these vehicles only emit water and heat as byproducts. The major reason for developing fuel cell technology for...

Fuel cell vehicles (FCV) use fuel cells to power the vehicle’s electric motor. Many FCVs use a fuel cell combined with a battery and supercapacitor to efficiently start-up, power, and utilize the best energy source for constant and peak power. In FCVs, the fuel cell uses oxygen from...

Model validation is the most important step in the model building process; however, it is often neglected. Even when the model is validated, it is often not done adequately. It often consists of taking a few experimental data points and plotting these points on the same graph as the model. There are two different types of models: engineering or...

As fuel cell size decreases, the transport phenomena of the fuels and water changes in the fuel cell. In standard fuel cell designs, the movement of fuel and water is governed by volumetric effects, but surface effects become critical as dimensions shrink. A good rule of thumb is that millimeter-scale devices are small enough for...

Small plant components are required to deliver the reactants to the fuel cell with the required conditions. Examples of these components are blowers, compressors, pumps, and humidification systems used to deliver the gases to the fuel cell with the proper temperature, humidity, flow rate and...

Fuel cells are not limited to pure hydrogen gas as fuel. Each type of fuel cell stack has different fuel tolerances. The lower the operating temperature of the stack, the stricter the requirements for pure fuel. For fuels other than pure hydrogen, an external fuel processing system may...

Fuel cells often use compressed hydrogen as the fuel; however, many other hydrogen sources can be used with fuel cells. Chemical hydride storage is an alternative method of producing hydrogen via a chemical reaction. These reactions involve chemical hydrides, water, and alcohols. The chemical reactions are not reversible, and the byproducts must be discarded. Hydrogen fuel can also...

Fuel cells usually use compressed hydrogen as the fuel, but there are many other types of fuels that can be used. The type of fuel used depends upon the fuel cell application. Fuels are often in their final form before entering the fuel cell; however, certain fuel cell types can be processed on the inside of the fuel cell. Alternative fuel types are...

There are many steps involved in the manufacturing of a fuel cell stack. One of these steps is the hot pressing of the polymer electrolyte membrane to the two gas diffusion layers (GDLs). This creates a three-layer laminate membrane electrode assembly (MEA). Other steps involve the machining or etching of the...

This post will help you to determine the best location for a photovoltaic (PV) system. After you have sized your PV system based upon the calculated the power requirements, you will have to select a location that has maximum sun exposure and limited shading throughout the year. PV arrays can be...

When you receive your energy bill each month, you may not understand exactly how the total amount has been calculated. Every device or appliance in your household contributes to the total sum of the bill. To figure out which appliances and devices are using the most energy, you can estimate the...

Mathematical models are a precise description of a problem, process, or technology in the form of mathematics. These models are built to learn more about a technology, system or method. The models explain why the system or process works the way it does and helps to study the effects and...

Batteries store and produce energy as needed. In PV systems, they capture surplus energy generated by your PV system to allow you to store energy for use later in the day. Like technologies such as fuel cells, a battery converts chemical energy to electrical energy. Rechargeable batteries also...