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How Clean is My Power?

Fuel cells are exceptionally clean power producers. Because fuel cells do not combust fossil fuels, they emit none of the acid rain or smog producing pollutants that are the inevitable by-product of burning coal or oil or natural gas.

"The temperature of the fuel cell stack is below the boiling point of water," Acker explains. "It's warm, but not real hot like combustion." The result is power with none of the sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, unburned hydrocarbons and particulates that are spewed by conventional generating plants—and that makes the electricity industry one of the heaviest polluters on the planet (see "The Dirt on Utilities," ).

Fuel cells that use "reformed" hydrogen from fossil fuels do, however, emit C0 2 , a major culprit in global warming. Take again the example of natural gas: For every four hydrogen atoms that go to power the fuel cell, there's a carbon atom to be dealt with. "The carbon atoms have to come out, and they come out as carbon dioxide," admits Acker.

But even so, he stresses, fuel cells will emit no more—and in most cases far less—C0 2 -per-kilowatt than do central power plants, particularly given the industry's heavy reliance on carbon-rich coal. "They'll also produce a lot less C0 2 than your home furnace," adds Acker, noting that this is especially true if you heat with oil or propane, each of which has a higher carbon-to-hydrogen ratio than does natural gas.

While reformed hydrogen is by no means a perfectly "green" energy solution, it's a giant leap in the right direction.

Of course it would be preferable to separate hydrogen from water using, for example, solar or wind power. But until governments and industries have an irresistible reason to spend billions converting the existing fossil fuel infrastructure to one centered on hydrogen, we're probably not going to see efficient, renewable hydrogen production on a mass scale.

"Changing an infrastructure is very difficult, it hasn't happened very often... and it usually requires some kind of massive, underlying economic event to make it happen," observes Plug Power CEO Gary Mittleman. "Given that, we are developing products that will work with the infrastructure that is in place today." It's one of those rare instances where it actually makes sense to put the cart before the horse.

How Much Will I Save?

According to industry estimates, fuel cell systems will save you a fifth or more on your electricity costs, given the current rates. Factored into this estimate, says Acker, are the price of the fuel (i.e., natural gas), the fuel cell system, its installation and routine maintenance.

"If you amortize these costs over a few years," says Acker, "what you find is that for tens of millions of households, there is a good 20% savings over what people are paying for electricity now."

The hitch here, of course, is that the ongoing deregulation of the electricity industry could and likely will drive down electricity prices (see "Sifting Through the Deregulation Debris," ). So it's hard to know what real savings fuel cell systems will offer until we see what electricity rates look like a few years down the road.

Also, the 20% savings promised by the industry won't be realized in most cases until the price of the systems drop to about the $4,000 mark. "But," notes Acker, "for millions and millions of people, the price could be ten times that and it would still be [cost-effective]." He points specifically to rural applications, where, he says, if you are more than a mile off the grid, it can cost $20,000 to $40,000 to run a wire to your house. And even if you don't pay directly for the installation and maintenance of that line, you'll almost certainly pay for it indirectly with higher electricity rates.

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