U of C at centre of fuel cell work
The university of Calgary is now the hub of a new national research network studying solid oxide fuel cells–an innovative clean-energy alternative.
More than 60 network university researchers with scientists in government and industry will work together in an effort to accelerate the commercialization of solid oxide fuel technology, bringing it into everyday use.
U of C fuel cells researcher viola birss, the network’s scientific director, explains fuel cells work much like a simple battery, but instead use fuel, like natural gas or propane, along with oxygen to create energy.
But their efficiency is unlike any other energy source, she explains.
Fuel cells use up to 85 per cent of the fuel they burn as compared to a car engine, for instance, which uses only about 15 per cent of the fuel it burns, releasing the rest as carbon emissions.
