Thanks for your opinions, Erik. I have a few (very non-expert) comments in response.
<<< The newest generation of natural gas turbines are surpassing 60% efficiency (that's excellent even with power lost in the lines) and have control technology available to them to produce emissions on par with, or even lower than, fuel cells, and those miniscule emissions are not in your backyard. >>>
Gas turbines sound great! Unfortunately I don't have a choice of buying gas turbine power; my power probably comes from nuclear or possibly coal neither of which I find particularly endearing from an environmentalist point of view. So for me, given the choice between an efficient fuel cell and my current electricity supplier, I'd go for the fuel cell. There are other people in the same boat.
<<< If utilities think they can make money placing these in their customers homes, rather than keeping them connected to the grid, then the market for fuel cells could be very big. I just do not understand this line of thinking (but remember, I do not profess to be an expert). We will probably never see 100% penetration in any given utility market. Therefore, the entire utility infrastructure for power distribution must be maintained, at a significant cost. It does not make sense to me that the utility would also pay for an additional "mini" infrastructure, unique to each fuel cell user. Rather than placing thousands of individual fuel cells in users homes, just buy one clean, ultra-efficient natural gas turbine, connect it to the existing utility infrastructure, and be done with it. >>>
Your logic is impeccable, but consider this scenario which has a nice element of greed to it ;)
The existing electric companies don't want to replace their existing non-gas generating stations (I guess that's coal and nuclear?) with gas turbines. Until they do, the gas suppliers won't be able to sell any gas to them. However, if the gas company can talk individual homeowners into buying fuel cells to generate electricity, the gas company increases sales. The fact that the electric company's infrastructure already exists and is "going to waste" is not their concern -- they want to sell more gas. That's why I see the gas companies acting as a sales force for residential fuel cell units. Make sense?
Peace
Mr Bones |
