Gasification is the conversion of biomass into combustible gas, volatiles and ash in an enclosed reactor or gasifier. The gas produced can be used either for heat generation or for power generation. A wide range of biomass materials (wood, charcoal, coconut shells, rice husk, bagasse, etc.) can be used to fuel gasifiers. In most of agro industries thermal processing is one of the step involved in the production chain. Many industry segments also use high cost fuels such as diesel, LPG or electricity to meet their thermal requirements such as drying, sterilization, direct and indirect heating, steam generation in boilers, melting and other applications. With increasing cost of imported oil and electricity, industry is increasingly loosing its competitive edge, both in the local and global markets.Biomass gasification process on the other hand offers an industrially proven, elegant, affordable and environment friendly way to meet this situation. Wood in drying and sizing mills, a major part of rice husk in rice mill, bagasse in gur / khandasari manufacturing units and agro residues such as groundnut shell etc., are used as furnace fuels via direct combustion. The operation of these furnaces, in general, has very low efficiency and results in a very serious air pollution and fly ash emissions. Alternate application of these residues via gasification route offers combustible gas, which can be used as fuel for all the above industrial thermal applications with relatively high efficiency.
Fuel cells are energy conversion devices that continuously transform the chemical energy of a fuel and an oxidant into electrical energy. This energy conversion process is accomplished by means of an electrochemical reaction whereby the reactants are consumed, by-products are expelled, and heat may be released or consumed. Fuel cells will continue to generate electricity as long as both fuel and oxidant are available. In a molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC), carbonate salts are the electrolyte. Heated to 650 degrees C, the salts melt and conduct carbonate ions (CO3) from the cathode to the anode. At the anode, hydrogen reacts with the ions to produce water, carbon dioxide, and electrons. The electrons travel through an external circuit, providing electrical power along the way, and return to the cathode. There, oxygen from air and carbon dioxide recycled from the anode react with the electrons to form CO3 ions that replenish the electrolyte and transfer current through the fuel cell. The operating principles for a carbonate fuel cell are simple in concept. The reactants fuel and an oxidant, in this case, air are fed to the cell’s electrodes. Ions are transported through the electrolyte sandwiched between the electrodes, creating a current equal to the amount of electric energy needed by the system connected to the fuel cell (also called load). The the overall reaction with hydrogen, is: H2+0.5O2+CO2(cathode)< == > H2O+CO2(anode) 
A Proton Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) fuel cell consists of two bipolar plates (anode and cathode), a Membrane Electrode Assembly, and Diffusion Media. These elements when connected to an electric load produce DC power. Hydrogen fuel cells need two elements to generate power, oxygen from the air, and hydrogen. The hydrogen and oxygen react through the membrane assembly to produce the electric power. The only by-product of the fuel cell is pure water. 
Conventional solar systems have an efficiency of only14 percent. Anna Dyson of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York has developed a system that gives combined heat and power with an efficiency of nearly 80 percent by efficiently capturing and transferring light into electricity and the solar heat into hot water. According to Anna Dyson the new system uses high-tech solar-concentrator technology and the system has stacks of pivoting lenses that senses the position of sun at any time and the modules are made to face the sun directly to focus sun rays onto high-tech solar cells. The key breakthrough is the miniaturized concentrator solar cell, which uses a lens with concentric grooves to focus collected light. Even though it is only the size of a postage stamp compared to the usual solar collector area that spans 4 x 4 feet, the cell is much more efficient in collecting and reusing solar energy. Micro channels at the base of the module transfer energy in the form of heat and light to wires contained inside. Each vertical stack of lenses rolls and tilts to track the sun. Incorporating these new cells into arrays could make solar energy an option that is competitive with other energy sources, reducing our dependency on fossil fuels. The lenses can be nestled between window panes and all of the pieces can be made of glass to lower the lighting needs of buildings, as it will provide usable light inside. It could supply as much as 50 percent of the energy needed for a building to operate. According to Anna Dyson the full-size prototype will be incorporated into a new building at The Center of Excellence in Syracuse, New York. 
Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells (PEFC) are used as the vehicular power source to eventually replace gasoline and diesel internal combustion engines. First used in the 1960s for the NASA Gemini program, PEFCs are currently being developed and demonstrated for systems ranging from 1W to 2kW. PEFC fuel cells use a solid polymer membrane (a thin plastic film) as electrolyte. This polymer is permeable to protons when it is saturated with water, but it does not conduct electrons. The fuel for the PEFC is hydrogen and the charge carrier is the hydrogen ion (proton). At the anode, the hydrogen molecule is split into hydrogen ions (protons) and electrons. The hydrogen ions permeate across the electrolyte to the cathode while the electrons flow through an external circuit and produce electric power. Oxygen, usually in the form of air, is supplied to the cathode and combines with the electrons and the hydrogen ions to produce water. The reactions at the electrodes are as follows: