Bigger, Cheaper Fuel Cells Will Eliminate Power Outages
23rd July 2014
General Electric has a bright idea for keeping the lights on even when the electrical grid short-circuits. The 122-year-old company wants to bring clean, reliable, affordable energy to the masses with hyper-efficient fuel cells , and in a rare move, is launching a startup to do it.
On Tuesday, the energy and electronics conglomerate unveiled GE Fuel Cells, an internal startup that’s working to commercialize fuel cell technology that runs on natural gas, creating energy that’s not only cleaner than dirty power plants, but more energy efficient, too. In the race to create a more environmentally sound alternative to power plants, fuel cells have emerged as a viable option, alongside solar and wind power. But unlike solar and wind power, fuel cells can provide steady, nonstop energy that doesn’t fade when the sun goes down or when the wind stops blowing.
July 23rd, 2014 at 11:55
Commercial fuel cells have been around since the 1980s. (They were originally developed by NASA, but that’s another story.) I’ve seen them hooked up to natural gas systems, but they had to extract hydrogen for the fuel cell and reject most of the hydrocarbon compounds in the natural gas stream.
Putting them in a power plant setting will no doubt be done as a smokescreen for compliance with the (incredibly stupid) Greenhouse Gas regulations. Ultimately the “reject” gas will be burned somewhere (probably in your subdivision, so as to escape regulation) and the main thing that the consumer will see is higher electric prices.
Oh, wait, isn’t GE highly tied in with the “O” Administration? Why, yes they are! In that case there is also the option to fail miserably after billion$ of our tax dollars are invested.
Color me skeptical.