[Phil]

Some of you know I am building an automobile racetrack near Palm Springs, CA.

Part of our building program is to have trackside private garages for some of our members. The garages will feature storage for cars, an office, some living areas and a view deck to watch the track.

I am getting some pressure for the garages to be hydrogen powered. The company claims to be able to convert natural gas into hydrogen:

Plug Power

Does anyone know about this industry? Is it worth it? What are the costs?

Thanks

[hrothgar]

Hi Phil

Can't claim to have an informed opinion on this one. I do have what might be a silly question: Shouldn't the type of power be built into the spec? I would think that you should be able to pawn the decision off on someone else.

[Phil]

hrothgar, on Oct 22 2009, 04:45 PM, said:

Hi Phil

Can't claim to have an informed opinion on this one. I do have what might be a silly question: Shouldn't the type of power be built into the spec? I would think that you should be able to pawn the decision off on someone else.

Thats what will happen if we decide to implement it, but no one wants a an extra $15K price tag (AFAICT) added to their house if this technology isn't really all its cracked up to be.

I'd be especially curious what the electrical charges are versus the additional gas consumption. Frankly I hate to be an early adopter on this kind of stuff, but wanted to check what other's experiences are.

What will probably happen is that one of the garages will be a 'green' model with this kind of stuff standard.

[hrothgar]

Hi Phil

I tend to be a late adopted on technologies. (For example, I didn't get a cell phone until last year). This undoubtedly biases some of my perspectives.

I talked to some friends from back at MIT about these types of technologies. Here's what they had to say:

1. Fuel cells are a very viable way to generate electricity

2. There are a number of companies out there with good technology available

3. The major issues with this type of scheme are NOT related to the fuel cell itself, but rather with the distribution and storage of the hydrogen. In many cases, there are significant economies of scale involved with this. (Having one garage powered by hydrogen fuel cells is much less practical than having a set of garages sharing a common fuel cell based infrastructure)

4. In order to make a well informed decision about this sort of thing, you'll need information about power consumption over time and how this will impact hydrogen delivery and storage.

Sorry that this is all so vague...

[onoway]

Seems as though a company which is still largely under the radar might be encouraged to think of putting in a garage as a demo model and at the very least paying for it itself for the privilege of showcasing its technology. There might be something about revisiting the arrangement after a couple of years....