Sciences:Astronomy & Space
Fuel Cells Hit Home
Popular Science
16-JUL-98
By Charles Wardell
It's the size of a gas furnace, looks like a mainframe computer, and will supply all
of your home's electricity for less than you may now be paying. And while it runs
on fossil fuels, it's nonpolluting. It's the residential fuel cell, and if the concept
proves viable, it could have a far-reaching impact on the way power is made and
distributed.
Fuel cells have been around for decades - they were used to generate power for
the Gemini space flights of the 1960s - but have been too expensive for
everyday use. Now the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in Palo Alto,
California, has teamed up with Analytic Power in Boston to build an affordable
3-kilowatt residential model that is now undergoing field tests.
Fuel cells convert the chemical energy in a fuel into electrical energy. They start
by extracting hydrogen from a hydrocarbon, such as natural gas or propane.
Then they strip the hydrogen atoms of their electrons, to create current. The
byproducts are water and heat.
Don Prohaska, the president of Analytic Power, says that a commercial version
of the fuel cell would cost about $3,000, with operating costs - that is, the cost
of the fuel - of about 8 cents per kilowatt-hour. Considering that the average
homeowner pays between 4 and 12 cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity,
Prohaska sees a potential U.S. demand of about 25 million units. EPRI's Dan
Rastler says that, if the concept proves viable, the device could represent the
first step toward an electricity-distribution system in which homes generate their
own power and dump any excess into a grid. Because demand peaks at
different times in different places, that grid would then serve as a battery backup.
Rastler is hoping to field-test 25 units this year. If they stand up to real-world
conditions as well as expected, they could be on the market in two years.
Article Dated 15-JUL-98
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