Topic: How To Invest

Q: Pat: What do you think about hydrogen fuel cells in general, and companies Hydrogenics Corp. and Plug Power, in particular?

Article Excerpt

A: Using fuel cells to generate electricity began when NASA used the technology for its space program. Fuel cells provided power for the onboard electronics of the Gemini and Apollo spacecraft. It was later used to generate electricity and water for the space shuttle. A fuel cell is a device that combines hydrogen and oxygen, from the air, to produce electrical power without combustion. The hydrogen is often derived from a fuel such as natural gas, propane or methanol. Alternatively, it can be obtained from the electrolysis of water, stored hydrogen or a hydrogen pipeline. Unlike fossil fuels, such as oil, fuel cells generate electricity through an electrochemical process that produces no particulate matter, nitrogen or sulfur oxides. As a result, fuel cells do not contribute to the formation of smog and acid rain. Fuel cells have no moving parts, produce little noise and, when fuelled by pure hydrogen, have only heat and water as by-products. To create power from a fuel…