Clean and Efficient. Fuel cells could dramatically mere 10% of automobiles nationwide were powered by fuel cells, regulated air pollutants would be cut by one million tons per year and 60 million tons of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide would be eliminated. DOE projects that the same number of fuel cell cars would cut oil imports by 800,000 barrels a day -- about 13 percent of total imports.
Fuel Cell Emissions Fuel cells running on hydrogen derived from a renewable source will be nothing but water vapor. In fact, the following chart shows a comparison of the water vapor and carbon monoxide emissions from fuel cells, running on a variety of fuels, as compared to an internal combustion engine.
| Engine Type | Water Vapor/mile | Carbon Dioxide/mile |
| Gasoline Combustion | 0.39 lb. | 0.85 lb. |
| Fuel Cell Running on Hydrogen from Gasoline | 0.32 lb. | 0.70 lb. |
| Fuel Cell Running on Hydrogen from Methane | 0.25 lb. | 0.15 lb. |
| Fuel Cell Running on Renewable Hydrogen | 0.25 lb. | 0.00 lb. |