March 8, 2004
CELLULAR MATTERS:
Fuel Cell Reaches Milestone (Space Daily, Mar 04, 2004)
A five-kilowatt solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) undergoing testing in Fairbanks has reached the 5,000-hour milestone since its start-up eight months ago. During each hour of operation the fuel cell produces approximately four kilowatts of electricity totaling 20,000 kilowatt hours for the duration, enough to power two average houses for a full year.Posted by Orrin Judd at March 8, 2004 12:29 PM"Since the biggest questions surrounding fuel cells have been longevity and reliability, this is an exciting achievement in fuel cell technology and testing," said Dennis Witmer, director of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Arctic Energy Technology Development Laboratory which is conducting the tests.
Quite cool.
I also liked the article on tabletop nuclear fusion, at the same site.
Unfortunately, fusion has been "just around the corner" for about forty years.
I thought that the biggest question was "where do you get the fuel for the fuel cell?".
Posted by: Annoying Old Guy at March 8, 2004 4:50 PMAOG is absolutely correct. Just what is the cost for each of those KWH? It's an achievement that leads to....what?
Posted by: Bruce Cleaver at March 8, 2004 6:56 PMI just got back from inspecting an 11,000 hp diesel that goes 24,000 hours between rebuilds.
5K does not impress me much.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at March 8, 2004 7:53 PMAnd was this diesel engine built in 1897, when the first commercially successful diesel engine was introduced ?
Or is it the product of a further 106 years of research and development ?
In 1893, Rudolf Diesel was almost killed when his prototype engine's cylinder head blew off.
Operating 5,000 hours seems like an advancement on that.
Well, fuel cells have been around quite a while now. Not 100 years, but at least 50.
Down at the Fossil Fuel power station, the turbines run round the clock more or less indefinitely. I forget the teardown period, but it's a long one.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at March 9, 2004 1:08 PMI don't want to be too critical, because I actually like fuel cell technology. However, they must be thought of as batteries, not generators. They're really nice batteries, but they are not and never will be a source of power. This wouldn't matter if fuel cells were not so often presented as power sources.
Posted by: Annoying Old Guy at March 9, 2004 2:42 PMThey needn't be sources as long as they allow storage of non-petroleum derived energy.
Posted by: oj at March 9, 2004 4:15 PMBut as a practical matter they don't.
Posted by: David Cohen at March 9, 2004 4:22 PMyet
Posted by: oj at March 9, 2004 4:56 PM