Fuel cells could hold the answer to our energy future

While it is true that wind and solar energy in New York State have an availability factor of between 20 and 30 percent (meaning that we would have to build as much as 500 megawatts of wind turbines or solar cells to arrive at 100 megawatts of firm capacity), fuel cells have an availability factor of 98 percent, which is on a par with conventional gas, oil and coal-fired electricity. Better still, fuel cells produce no harmful emissions and don’t rely on imported oil.

Indeed, the benefits of fuel cells are nothing short of spectacular. A 200-kilowatt fuel cell that the New York Power Authority installed at a wastewater treatment plant in Yonkers generates about 1.6 million kilowatt-hours of electricity a year and releases only 72 pounds of emissions to the environment. This compares with average emissions of about 41,000 pounds produced by coal- and oil-fueled power plants generating the same amount of electricity.

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