At least 700,000 jobs will be created in the global fuel cell industry over the next decade, according to a new report.

In its latest industry review, titled 'Fuel Cells: Sustainability', Fuel Cell Today predicts that fuel cells will help a number of countries emerge from recession in the coming years.

Furthermore, analysts at the firm suggest that, based on unit shipment predictions, over a million new jobs could be created when installation, servicing and manufacturing are factored in.

The review also notes that Asia will be the main manufacturing hub, while key adopter regions such as Europe and North America will see the most installation and maintenance jobs created.

"In Europe and North America, there has been a great deal of political focus in recent years on job creation to stimulate economic growth and also to compensate for those being lost in declining industries," commented Principal Analyst Dr Kerry-Ann Adamson.

"Jobs in the fuel cell industry are genuine green collar jobs - manufacturing jobs focused on new, clean technologies."

The review has also quantified fuel cells in terms of CO2 and NOx emissions for the first time.

According to the research, using fuel cells in light-duty vehicles, materials handling and pure hydrogen-fuelled buses can greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions as water vapour is the only by-product.

Meanwhile, analysts noted that applications requiring the reformation of a carbon-based fuel provide substantial improvements in efficiency in comparison to their traditional counterparts.

The report concluded that fuel cells also have the ability to significantly reduce SOx, particulate matter and noise emissions when applied to certain devices or machinery.

"We look at CO2 and NOx emissions at point of use for fuel cells in various applications and reveal that fuel cells in transport and stationary applications offer significant point-of-use emissions reduction potential," Dr Adamson added.

"Scaling this up with our ten-year shipment forecasts, the environmental footprint of fuel cell technology is considerably lower than conventional technologies, in addition to the higher efficiencies that fuel cells offer."

The review, which is set to be launched at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi next week, can be ordered from Fuel Cell Today for £500.

Sources:


Fuel Cell Today press releases

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