Fuel Cells as an Energy Source for the Caribbean

With the dawn of the green revolution being fuelled by fears that the world’s energy habits are contributing to the demise of our planet as we know it, it becomes our moral and ethical responsibility to develop renewable energy resources to meet our current demands whilst eliminating the problems produced by the non-renewable resources currently utilized. Considering the present day scenario, the renewable energy sources are going to become the long-term solution for future energy. With oil production and its hydrocarbon products globally now experiencing a massive downturn in financial profits as well as supplies while countries worldwide are beginning to experience the effects of global warning with extreme climatic changes and associated health problems. In this scenario of development of sustainable infrastructure in renewable/alternate energy, the twin island nation Trinidad and Tobago is not well advanced in the preparation process in looking for and making use of alternative sources of renewable energy it being predominately an oil/natural gas based economy. The present paper highlights the different renewable/alternate energy options available for consideration along with their advantages and disadvantages and present global scenario highlighting the future technology in terms of fuel cells and fuel cell based hybrid systems. It also highlights the efforts being done at the first Fuel Cell Materials Research Lab in the English speaking Caribbean which has been established at the Physics Department, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine campus, Trinidad and Tobago