Role of solid oxide fuel cells in a balanced energy strategy

The 2012 Department of Energy (DOE) budget request significantly reduces fuel cell RD&D funding and would cease to support the Solid State Energy Conversion Alliance (SECA), DOE's solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) program. This would be a grave mistake considering the US's historic dominance in fuel cell RD&D, exciting recent technological advancements in fuel cells, and clear positive market signals around the globe. In this paper we discuss DOE's energy RD&D policy, how SOFCs address every key DOE strategy, and why recent advances should make SOFCs an integral part of our energy RD&D policy. Moreover, we compare the prospects of low temperature SOFCs with the more common proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) in the absence of a hydrogen infrastructure.