Fuel cells are the answer

Re What happened to the hydrogen fuel cell dream?, Dec. 8

It is true that hydrogen is always part of another compound and requires energy to separate it from that compound. But perhaps your columnist is unaware of Tri Generation fuel cells.

These fuel cells create energy (electricity and heat — about 700 F)) from the process of combining renewable biogas or natural gas with oxygen to produce high-purity hydrogen.

These fuel cells can be configured to provide additional hydrogen beyond what is needed for power production, thus generating a stream of hydrogen suitable for applications such as mass transportation.

I get depressed when I read articles like this that question the viability of hydrogen as a fuel, forever in the future and never part of our present.

Without an economical way of creating a practical supply of hydrogen, I agree that hydrogen will always remain out of reach.

But when there’s a technology out there that can produce the hydrogen required for a mass market and, while producing that hydrogen, create clean emissionless energy, I’m wondering what we are waiting for.

It is no secret that fuel cells are more than twice as efficient as combustion in creating energy. With Tri Generation fuel cells, that efficiency can be as high as 90 per cent.

As the world struggles with climate change and what to do about it, to me the path is clear. Fuel cells, in their many different forms, are the solution. James Fujimot, Toronto