 |
|
|
 |
A source for everyone interested in energy, business and the environment  |
|
 |
"...an invaluable guide to a more helpful future..."
-Walter Cronkite |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
FUEL CELLS:
The Holy Grail of energy technology, fuel cells are small, modular, electrochemical devices that convert hydrogen and oxygen directly into electricity and water. They do not rely on combustion, so they produce none of the air pollutants - NOx, SO2 and particulates - that cause smog, acid rain and health problems. For stationary applications like buildings or power plants, hydrogen is derived on-site from natural gas, which means that the only significant emissions are water and carbon dioxide. Fuel cells also release heat that can be used for cogeneration, meaning the overall energy efficiency of the natural gas fuel cell can exceed 80 percent.
Until recently, the only commercially available fuel cell in the U.S. was a large, 200- kilowatt model from a subsidiary of United Technologies. But a number of manufacturers will soon introduce new proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells ranging from a few kilowatts to 250 kilowatts. Leading automakers including Ford, General Motors, DaimlerChrysler, and Toyota are spending hundreds of millions of dollars pursuing PEM fuel cells for use in vehicles -- investment that should drive down fuel cell costs, especially for less demanding stationary applications.
- The 200,000-square-foot technology center at the First National Bank of Omaha processes credit card orders from around the country 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Even brief power interruptions can take down a computer systems that takes costly hours to recover. A single major retail client can lose as much as $6 million an hour if power fails and credit card orders are not processed. So the bank installed the most reliable electrical power source they could find: a fuel cell system developed by Sure Power Corporation of Danbury, Connecticut.
The best conventional uninterruptible power system has a rated downtime of about an hour per year, while the fuel cell system leaves the company exposed to the utility grid for just 32 seconds. The fuel cells supply both heat and electricity for the facility. Moreover, the fuel cell requires no conditioned space, while the traditional UPS system would have required $28,000 in annual cooling costs.
- Plug Power in Latham, New York, a sister company of Detroit Edison demonstrated the first prototype fuel cell system for use in a home in June, 1998. This seven-kilowatt PEM system will be sold and serviced by General Electric Fuel Systems, by 2000.
- Ballard Power Systems of Vancouver, British Columbia expects to introduce a 250- kilowatt PEM fuel cell by 2002 that generates efficient power plus water hot enough to run an absorption chiller (air conditioner), for an overall efficiency in excess of 80 percent. At $1,500 per kilowatt, this would be a very attractive technology for larger buildings. Ballard is also developing a smaller unit, under 10 kilowatts, for sale by 2002.
|
|
|
