Mobil's "Clearing the Air" Campaign: A Questionable Approach to Fuel Cells

The Mobil Corporation has recently launched a series of advertisements entitled "Clearing the Air," which aim to educate the public about fuel cells, a device that produces power from hydrogen without combustion or pollution. However, Fuel Cells 2000, a non-profit educational organization, has questioned the accuracy and motives behind Mobil's campaign. The organization's executive director, Robert Rose, claims that Mobil's advertisements contain distortions and misleading information about the environmental benefits of fuel cells.

Key Takeaways:

• Mobil's "Clearing the Air" campaign has been criticized by Fuel Cells 2000 for containing distortions and misleading information about fuel cells.
• Robert Rose, executive director of Fuel Cells 2000, cites Mobil's statement that converting natural gas to hydrogen "results in emissions of carbon monoxide" as an example of the campaign's inaccuracies.
• Rose argues that the carbon monoxide emissions from hydrogen production are a tiny fraction of the pollution caused by conventional transportation methods.
• Recent tests of a fuel cell bus confirm the environmental benefits of the technology, producing no measurable traces of toxic particles or smog-causing hydrocarbons.
• Fuel Cells 2000 challenges Mobil's contention that fuel cells are "astronomically expensive" and "take decades" to develop, citing the development of fuel cell vehicles by Daimler Benz and General Motors.
• A division of General Motors concluded that fuel cells can be mass-produced for about the same cost as a car's internal combustion engine.

Statistics:

• A single car burning two gallons of gasoline generates 100 times more carbon monoxide than a hydrogen plant on an energy equivalent basis.
• A fleet of 75 fuel cell buses would produce less carbon monoxide than a single conventional bus.
• Fuel Cells 2000 is a non-profit educational activity that seeks to educate the public about the benefits of fuel cells.

Sources:

• PR Newswire, "Fuel Cells 2000 Criticizes Mobil's 'Clearing the Air' Campaign" (Jan. 12, 1995)
• Frank O'Donnell for Fuel Cells 2000, 202-293-7800 (contact source)