Aiming to put fuel cells to work

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2008/03/31/aiming_to_put_fuel_cells_to_work/

A powerful winter storm swept across northeastern Ohio in early January, knocking out power for nearly 60,000 customers. But in an isolated one-story building, tucked among the trees and fields of Cuyahoga Valley National Park, the lights stayed on.

So did the computers. The power source: two fuel cells, each about the size of a refrigerator.

"It worked seamlessly," said Tom Toledo, maintenance operations supervisor at the park. "We didn't even realize there was a power outage."

The performance of these fuel cells, a demonstration project for fuel cell maker Acumentrics Corp. of Westwood, is an example of a technology whose time may be approaching. Unlike traditional technologies, which burn fuels like oil, coal, and natural gas to make power, fuel cells rely on chemical reactions to produce electricity and heat.

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coal, and natural gas to make power, fuel cells burn fuels like oil, coal and natural gas to make power:

"Fuels composed largely of carbon and hydrogen, including natural gas, landfill gas, and biofuels, are pumped into the cell, where they react with oxygen from surrounding air."

They react with oxygen (don't use the word "burn", it's cleaner that way). :crazy: