The cost of electricity and heat affects Bethel’s budget, and it affects all of our household budgets. Alternate energy technologies have some promise to lower our energy costs, and better ways of producing electricity through mainstream methods are becoming available. One technology that seems very promising is the high-temperature fuel cell.
The Bloom energy server has received a lot of press recently. This device is a high temperature fuel cell that can run on many different fuels, including natural gas, and it is more than twice as efficient at producing electricity as a conventional natural gas power plant. Bloom claims that it will produce electricity for 14 cents per kilowatt-hour, or less if “free” methane from a landfill is used as fuel.
The consumer cost for electricity, including the transmission fee, is between 16 and 18 cents per kilowatt-hour, depending on the supplier. Note that there is no transmission charge with a fuel cell because it’s usually located right next to the building it powers. And we can use a fuel cell and power from the grid, so a failure of one will not be catastrophic.
These high-temperature fuel cells also produce heat, which can be used to help heat a building. However, they are so efficient that a furnace is still needed (or you have to use electricity to heat the building, in which case you need another fuel cell … )
The emissions of the Bloom fuel cell are Carbon Dioxide, water and heat—there are no toxic gasses. While Carbon Dioxide is a greenhouse gas, less is spend producing electricity using fuel cells than if Natural Gas, Coal or Oil were to be burned to produce the same amount of electricity.
The Bloom Energy Server is currently available in a size that is right for a 30,000 square foot office building, and a 100KW device is reported to cost between $700,000 and $800,000. Bloom hopes to have units suitable for residential use within ten years which will cost $3000 each; the average home in the US will require two units. The expense of the fuel cell may be offset by a state or federal subsidy, like the subsidies given by the CT Clean Energy Fund.
However, Bloom is not the only company producing fuel cells—there are a number of other companies manufacturing high temperature fuel cells, including “Fuel Cell Energy” in Danbury.
Bethel should investigate the feasibility of using alternate energy sources, including using a high-temperature fuel cell in the in the Educational Complex, and possibly in the Municipal Center. The technology is still maturing, so it may be best to wait for a few years, but we should start the groundwork now. This may be a great opportunity to lower our energy costs.
Hank Karl
My Website
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