by Darren T. Kimura
March 1, 2005
Story from: Building Management Hawaii
Imagine a technology that allows you to produce electricity from water. Imagine creating electricity on-site at your facility as easily as producing hot water for your showers. Imagine doing all of this with a technology that has no moving parts and no combustion. As futuristic as this technology sounds, it is a reality today in a product simply know as a Fuel Cell
What is a Fuel Cell?
A fuel cell is a device that uses an electro-chemical process to produce electricity. In this sense, a fuel cell is similar to your standard car battery but the chemical components are constantly fed to the fuel cell which translates to constant electrical output. Typically chemical fuel choices include water and a gas such as hydrogen/propane or even methane. Current Fuel Cell Uses
Fuel cell technology is currently used in a wide range of industries. Fuel cell systems can currently be found on board NASA’s Space Shuttle flights producing electricity and water for astronauts. The automotive industry has embraced fuel cells and virtually every major manufacturer is offering a product on the market powered by fuel cells. GM recently introduced its Sequel, a SUV powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. It is available today. In the commercial sector, companies such as UPS have partnered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to test the use and economics of converting to an all fuel cell fleet. Fuel cells are also commonly found today aboard mass transit vehicles, at universities and federal facilities, in the military and even at residential homes or providing reliable standby power.
March 1, 2005
Story from: Building Management Hawaii
Imagine a technology that allows you to produce electricity from water. Imagine creating electricity on-site at your facility as easily as producing hot water for your showers. Imagine doing all of this with a technology that has no moving parts and no combustion. As futuristic as this technology sounds, it is a reality today in a product simply know as a Fuel Cell
What is a Fuel Cell?
A fuel cell is a device that uses an electro-chemical process to produce electricity. In this sense, a fuel cell is similar to your standard car battery but the chemical components are constantly fed to the fuel cell which translates to constant electrical output. Typically chemical fuel choices include water and a gas such as hydrogen/propane or even methane. Current Fuel Cell Uses
Fuel cell technology is currently used in a wide range of industries. Fuel cell systems can currently be found on board NASA’s Space Shuttle flights producing electricity and water for astronauts. The automotive industry has embraced fuel cells and virtually every major manufacturer is offering a product on the market powered by fuel cells. GM recently introduced its Sequel, a SUV powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. It is available today. In the commercial sector, companies such as UPS have partnered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to test the use and economics of converting to an all fuel cell fleet. Fuel cells are also commonly found today aboard mass transit vehicles, at universities and federal facilities, in the military and even at residential homes or providing reliable standby power.
Advantages
There are many advantages to using a fuel cell. From a facility operation stand point, the fuel cell has no moving parts, thus it requires low maintenance and emits virtually no audible noise or emissions. Fuel cell systems create water, electricity and heat allowing for a highly efficient use of its chemical inputs. Finally tax credits may be available on the federal and state levels which help to offset the high costs of system installations.
Disadvantages
The major limiting factor behind the technology is that systems today are extremely costly. comparison, purchasing electrical power from your local utility will run you an estimated kilowatt hour charge of $0.11. Over a 5 year period photovoltaic power may run you about $0.27 cents per kilowatt hour. Fuel cells will presently cost an estimated $0.42 per kilowatt hour. While the concept itself is not new, the application is evolving thus and there is little understanding of fuel cell system use over time. In fact, it has been speculated that fuel cells may lose significant efficiencies as time goes on. These situations are being tested today by Hawaiian Electric and the military to quantify the trueeffect of fuel cell system use The Future of Fuel Cells As the market continues to evolve and systems become more economically viable, the near future will see vehicles powered completely by fuel cell and more on-site generation systems installed. On the consumer level, in the not too distant future we may see fuel cells included cell phones, wrist watches, laptop computers. One day you may find that a fuel cell is producing the electricity for your facility from the waste methane of your trash and sewage systems and is producing water for your landscape, as well as heat for your hot water. Darren T. Kimura is the President and CEO of Energy Industries, an energy services company focusing on the installation and implementation of energy systems in Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and California. Darren is an Electrical Engineer and Certified Energy Manager (CEM) and has over 14 years of experience in the energy industry.
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