Power Generation - Hydrogen and Fuel Cells: Advances in Transportation and Power - page 180

eas, schools, apartment buildings or hospitals. The cost of fuel cells would
have to come down to less than $1,000 per kilowatt. At $800 to $1000 per
kilowatt fuel cells would be economical for buildings. The excessive space
and weight would not matter so much for an installation in a basement or
in an outside area.
The waste heat the fuel cell generates can be used in a cogeneration
process to provide services like heating, cooling, and dehumidification.
Instead of the 50% efficiency of a fuel cell with a reformer, or 60-70% with-
out one, 90% or better is possible for the total system efficiency.
In most situations, the waste heat is enough of a commodity to pay
for a natural gas line and a mass-produced reformer to turn it into hydro-
gen. Then, the effective net cost of providing electricity to the building is
about 1-2 cents per kilowatt hour.
CARS AS POWER PLANTS
As the building market for fuel cells grows, costs will come down
and allow more economical fuel cells in cars. Buildings use 2/3 of all elec-
tricity in the United States, so there is the possibility of large fuel cell vol-
umes. Both the building and vehicular fuel cell markets are potentially so
large that when either of them starts moving it will push the other.
Stationary and mobile fuel cells could have a potential relationship
that goes beyond cost and volume. A fuel cell in a vehicle is a multi-kilo-
watt power generator on wheels, which is driven about 5% of the time and
parked the other 95% of the time.
These fuel cell cars could be used to provide power and even water
to buildings where people live or even work. Commuters could drive their
cars to work and connect them to a hydrogen line. While they worked,
their cars would be producing electricity, which they could then sell back
to the grid. The car, instead of just occupying a parking space, would be-
come a profit generator.
Thinking about cars as power plants is not something that we are
conditioned to do, but it is an indication of how fuel cells could impact our
lives as mobile utilities.
Fuel cell vehicles could provide extra value when they are in use, by
acting as these mobile power sources. Most cars are used for 1 or 2 hours
of the day. When they are not used, they are often parked where electricity
is needed—offices, stores, homes or factories. If all cars were fuel cell pow-