California Fuel Cell Partnership Examines Water Consumption

November 4th, 2014 by Fiedler Group

It’s no secret — California is in a drought — and as a result, California Governor Jerry Brown has asked residents to reduce their water consumption by at least 20 percent.

The current water landscape in California is cause to examine the consumption of water and its use in the energy and transportation industries.

According to the California Fuel Cell Partnership and a study conducted by Argonne National Labs, consumptive water use differs by various fuel sources.

“Consumptive water use” considers the amount of water used by the fuel source as well as the water output recycled or reused by the fuel process.

While hydrogen in a fuel cell vehicle uses 0.5 gallons of water per mile, gasoline by comparison, only uses 0.2 gallons per mile, but is a water pollutant due to its inherent participation in run-off from roads and parking areas into storm drains and fuel system spillage or leakage.

To learn more about water consumption fuel sources’ well-to-wheels impact, read the full California Fuel Partnership report.