Across the country in early October, scientists and engineers have been celebrating National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Day. Aptly chosen to represent the atomic weight of hydrogen (1.008), National Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Day was celebrated for the first time on October 8, 2015 and this year we’re keeping the momentum going.
Fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs), which run on hydrogen rather than gasoline, have the potential to significantly reduce our nation’s oil use and lower harmful emissions that contribute to climate change. Plus, they can be more than twice as efficient as today’s gasoline vehicles. That’s why FCEVs are one piece of the Energy Department’s (DOE) energy portfolio and complement other sustainable transportation options.
After the first oil embargo back in the mid-1970s, a group of national lab researchers met with leaders from the private sector and federal government at Los Alamos National Laboratory in Albuquerque, New Mexico. They came together to brainstorm ideas, like hydrogen and fuel cells, that would ultimately revolutionize the transportation sector as we know it. Based on these ideas, General Motors temporarily relocated their fuel cell division to Los Alamos. Over time, national lab scientists helped teach industry scientists how to make optimized electrodes – the heart of the fuel cell – and eventually, these partnerships led to major advancements. Forty years later we have commercial fuel cell vehicles on the road.
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