Space-Age Technology Puts Hotel in Hot Water : Science: A futuristic fuel cell of the type that gave electricity to moon-bound astronauts is making hot water and electricity for the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Irvine.
The same type of gizmo that provided electricity to astronauts on their way to the moon now supplies the power for hair dryers and hot water for showers at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.
Wednesday, the chairmen of Southern California Gas Co. and the Irvine Co., which owns the hotel, proudly showed off a fuel cell they touted as the first in the nation to provide nearly pollution-free electricity directly to the public. The cell also represents the first commercial use of the technology in Orange County.
As corporate and city officials touted the environmental benefits and future promise of the technology during the unveiling ceremony, the hotel’s fuel cell sat quietly behind the tennis courts, chemically converting natural gas to hot water and electricity.
The 200-kilowatt fuel cell, the size of a small house trailer, will supply as much as 25% of the hotel’s electricity and more than half of its hot water, gas company officials said. Not only does the battery-like fuel cell operate more efficiently than a conventional power plant, it emits 20 times less polluting gases.
The technology will be vital for cleaning up the Southland’s air once fuel cells are mass-produced and the price comes down, said Southern California Gas Co. Chairman Richard D. Farman.
“Tough environmental regulations, and the outlook for even more stringent requirements in the future, are cited as a leading factor driving businesses from California,” Farman said. Natural gas powered fuel cells will help the local economy move forward with both fewer regulations and cleaner air, he said.
Because fuel cells create electricity without burning gas, they produce almost no smog-producing gases. In fact, the gas company claims, a fuel cell installed in an urban area will emit exhaust cleaner than the surrounding air.
The cells work by stripping hydrogen from natural gas molecules. The hydrogen chemically reacts with oxygen in an acid solution to produce an electrical current.
With fuel cells outclassing power plants in efficiency and environmental friendliness, people might expect fuel cells to eventually dot every neighborhood in the country. But there is one drawback.
Each cell costs the gas company $600,000. That price makes the electricity about 2 1/2 times more expensive to provide than the price Southern California Edison charges its customers. The cost should become more competitive as new technology mixes with mass production, Southern California Gas Co. spokeswoman Michelle Bagley said.
The Irvine Co. volunteered the Hyatt Regency as one of 10 gas company customers to test a fuel cell. In return, the company will pay about 15% less for the electricity than it does now. The gas company has agreed to subsidize electricity costs until improvements in technology bring them down.
The electrochemical process of a fuel cell also creates carbon dioxide, nitrous oxides, water and heat. The gases have been linked to global warming, but the fuel cell produces them in amounts smaller than by conventional power plants.
Fuel cell technology appears so promising that scientists envision portable fuel cells powering cars and trains of tomorrow, helping to clear the air in smoggy urban areas. The South Coast Air Quality Management District has helped form a coalition of businesses and government agencies trying to raise $1 billion to develop portable fuel cells.
AQMD was Southern California Gas Co.’s first fuel cell customer, receiving one at its Diamond Bar headquarters in May. Future cells will be installed at about one per month at Santa Barbara County Jail, Kraft Foods in Buena Park, Kaiser Permanente hospitals in Anaheim and Riverside, two more government offices and one at the gas company’s Pico Rivera office, Bagley said.
The gas company will own and maintain the 10 fuel cells it installs, Bagley said. Eventually, she said, Southern California Gas hopes future cells will be simple enough and cheap enough for large businesses to buy and operate on their own.
So far, Southern California Edison isn’t worried about everyone buying fuel cells and putting it out of business.
The current technology of phosphoric acid fuel cells probably will never be feasible except in specialized applications that can use both the electricity and the heat produced by the cell, said John Leeper, Edison’s fuel cell program manager.
Edison is working to help develop the next generation of fuel cells that produce electricity from natural gas even more efficiently, but on a much larger scale that is more appropriate for centralized power plants, Leeper said.
Fuel cell proponents hope that someday the cells will be sold like refrigerators for home use. But the maintenance needed by current models would make that prohibitively expensive, he said.
“They are a nice idea, and I’m not ruling that out as a possibility,” Leeper said. “But that will probably be something for the 21st Century, not something that will be offered next week.”
