The fuel cell can be viewed as an electricity generator which works by processing hydrogen. Current electricity generators operate by rotating a copper (or some other material) coil in an electromagnetic field. The energy to rotate the coil and to generate the magnetic field comes from burning fossil fuels, by water flow, or by nuclear power.

A fuel cell combined with hydrogen forms the equivalent of a battery. Electricity is placed into a battery and later drawn from a battery. In the same way, electricity is placed into a fuel cell/hydrogen combination, this electricity being generated by conventional means. And again similar to a battery, electricity is later drawn from the combination of fuel cell and hydrogen. The original electricity in both cases is generated from fossil fuels, nuclear power or hydroelectric dams, with a few percent coming from solar photovoltaics and wind turbines. The main distinction is that the battery that is charged and the electricity released later come from the same physical unit while in the case of the fuel cell/hydrogen combination, the hydrogen tank is ìchargedî and the fuel cell can be at a different locale.

Use of the fuel cell implies a further shift to electricity and away from direct burning of fossil fuels, at least natural gas and oil. If fossil fuels are depleting than the current reformation of natural gas and oil to form hydrogen will be increasingly limited. And the use of oil for transportation will also become more limited. The production of this electricity for creating hydrogen for fuel cells will come from nuclear plants, coal fired generators (coal is an unsatisfactory fuel for cars), hydroelectric plants, wind turbines and photovoltaic cells.

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