ON THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF ENERGY CONVERSION SYSTEMS

An analysis of the energy consumption and the associated emissions for power plants and road traffic is presented for West Germany as a typical highly industrialized country. While the former is the sector of highest energy consumption and CO2 emission, the latter shows the highest emissions with respect to NOX, CO and volatile organic compounds (VOC). Both sectors, each being prominent in its own way, are analyzed with respect to the underlying technical principles of the present technology in comparison to a potential future use of fuel cell systems. The energy consumption and emission levels of fuel cells in stationary electricity production in power plants and in vehicle application in road traffic is compared with the corresponding conventional systems. Conclusions for the future technological development can be drawn from the results of the presented analysis.