Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
gency shelter and the fuel cell system will be able to provide power in the
event of an electric power outage. UTC Fuel Cells intends to use the project
as an international demonstration site for fuel cell technology.
The Department of Defense (DOD) Fuel Cell Demonstration Program
is managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It was begun in the mid-
1990s to advance the use of PAFCs at DOD installations. Under this pro-
gram, stationary fuel cells were installed at 30 facilities and locations in the
Armed Services. The fuel cells are used for primary and back-up power as
well as heat.
The DOD has also begun a residential fuel cell demonstration pro-
gram using polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells ranging in size
from 1 to 20 kilowatts. This will include twenty-one PEM fuel cells at nine
U.S. military bases. The first units were installed in 2002.
The DOE's Distributed Energy and Electric Reliability Program in-
volves a series of traveling road shows for building code inspectors, fire
marshals and others on distributed energy technologies, including hydro-
gen and fuel cells.
ICELAND'S HYDROGEN ECONOMY
Iceland could become the world's first hydrogen economy. This island
nation in the North Atlantic has many active volcanoes, hot springs, and
geysers and is suited to a hydrogen economy because it has excess renew-
able energy.
Iceland uses its renewable energy for power generation and heating,
so these sectors are nearly carbon-free. Carbon dioxide emissions are pro-
duced by the transportation, fishing, and industrial sectors, each of these
contributes about one million tons of carbon dioxide (CO
2
) per year.
Iceland shifted from fossil fuel to hydroelectric power very early and
went to geothermal heating after World War II. But, to fuel its vehicles and
fishing fleet, Iceland imports about 6 million barrels per year of petroleum.
There are no sources of oil or other fuels other than some landfill methane
on the island. Iceland has little fossil fuel resources but there is plenty of
inexpensive, clean hydropower as well as geothermal energy. Energy is
tapped from the hot water or steam in the ground to run turbine genera-
tors while lower temperature water is used to heat buildings or provide
process heat for industries. Geothermal energy is used in 90% of the build-
ings for hot water or steam. Almost 9 million megawatt-hours (MWh) of
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