It’s a Real Gas!

Scientists build caramel-powered margarine-making fuel cell

Scientists from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) have found that waste from confectionery production could be used to produce useful amounts of hydrogen for electricity generation. The feasibility study used sugar-rich waste from a Cadbury’s factory to power a fuel cell.

This is kind of neat. Hydrogen is a perfect non-polluting fuel: it releases water as it’s exhaust. The only drawback to shifting to a hydrogen-based energy economy is the ability to economically produce enough hydrogen – which usually is a very energy-intensive process.

Now, if we could just figure out how to eliminate those pesky problems with designing fusion power plants….