Bloom Fuel Cell

Fuel cells aren’t new – electricity aboard the Gemini 5 spacecraft in 1965 came from one – but they aren’t so space age anymore.

More businesses and local governments are relying on them to help reduce their carbon footprint, capitalize on renewable fuels and to generate power. At least four schemes are in the San Joaquin Valley and, as a Dec. 21 Los Angeles Times story noted, they are “popping up” all around the state.

Bloom Energy, a young Bay area company, has received a large total of press not long back for it is fuel cells. A leading soft drink maker declared this year that it would test fuel Bloom Energy cells powered by biogas at a plant in Dinuba, in Tulare County. The five cells could fabricate almost one-third of the plant’s power, and cut it is carbon footprint 35%.

Similar gimmicks generate power at a 400,000-square-foot cold storage warehouse in Stockton; use methane gas invented from a wastewater treatment facility to provide power to the Turlock Irrigation District; and use biogas as an onsite renewable energy source at a territorial wastewater plant in Tulare.

The California Stationary Fuel Cell Collaborative, administered by the Air Resources Board, has info on more projects allround the state.

It remains to be seen how popular these power manufacturers become – they may be the size of a vehicle and cost a bundle to install – but, if they work as intended, could make a significant dent in an entity’s carbon footprint and power bills.

The federal government has an ambitious agenda for exploration in that field, appropriating $74 million over three years. “The investments we’re making today will aid advance fuel cell engineering science in the United States,” U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said. “This is portion of a wide effort to give rise to American jobs, reduce carbon pollution, and support see to it the U.S. stays competitory in the growing clean energy economy.”

Fuel cells use the chemical energy of hydrogen or other fuels to cleanly and expeditiously develop electricity or heat with minimal byproducts, mainly water. They may construct power in big stationary schemes such as buildings or for vehicles such as mercantile forklifts, buses and automobiles.

Lewis Nelson, public works conductor in Tulare, says fuel cells are well suitable for wastewater treatment plants. They take biogas from anaerobic treatment of wastewater solids or animal manure and generate electricity. In 2010, Tulare is expected to save regarding $570,000 with the system.

“A treatment plant uses a lot of electricity, and may in general use all the electricity a fuel cell generates internally, saving the cost of purchasing electricity from a utility,” Nelson says. “I think that biogas fuel cells are an splendid renewable electricity engineering science for wastewater treatment plants.”

Tulare is presently installing it is fourth fuel cell. The city’s investment after a $4 million incentive was $3 million, which means it could recoup it is costs within five years.

Bloom Fuel Cell

Airdate: 2/21/10 Over a hundred start-up companies in Silicon Valley are searching for the next energy breakthrough that will be clean, efficient, and reliable. Has Bloom Energy found it? Inventor K.R. Sridhar says yes, his “Bloom Box” will someday do away with the power grid and the polluting entities that electrify it. But it’s not that easy, reports Lesley Stahl.

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