Fuel cells and photovoltaic cells are two promising technologies for green sustainable societies. Both are technologies that are capable of producing electricity but with different techniques. A solar cell converts light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect. On the other hand, a fuel cell converts the chemical energy from the reaction between oxygen and a fuel into electricity and water. The fuel used is hydrogen which can be produced using solar energy. Both devices have different working principles, operation requirements, and efficiencies. However, they share the end goal of producing electricity from a non-fossil clean energy source. The main objective of this work is to investigate whether fuel cells or solar cells are more feasible for domestic use by considering the available technologies and information. The comparison is based on the electricity produced by the two technologies provided the same input of energy from the sun. The research focuses on the electrical output, their efficiencies, and the cost of purchasing, operation, and thus the cost of energy produced from the whole system. A desalination domestic scale system based on Reverse Osmosis (RO) technique was proposed as an application to consume this energy. |
