Fuel cells provide emergency power without blowing smoke

You're likely talking about fuel cells used as a reserve power source. Hydrogen energy fuel cells can provide electricity during emergencies when power grid fails.⁹

Hydrogen is a limitless source of fuel. It is all around us, whether in its pure form of H2, a gas in water, or H2O. It's going to be with us forever. We're not creating more of it or releasing more into the environment. It's already there.

They are going to look just like conventional buildings. They should be low-energy-intensity. So, a suitable use for this is office buildings. Buildings that are high-intensity energy users would have to store much more hydrogen on-site to provide that fuel source to run your fuel cell. That gets into the geometry of the site, the setbacks of the site, and what you're potentially able to do because of the zoning. A property that needs less electricity in emergencies — like an office building — is a simpler use case.

For the most part, hospitals are going to be looking for the least-cost option for backup power sources due to the regulatory and reimbursement environment. That’s pretty much going to be diesel and natural gas-fired generators.

If you can get large supplies of hydrogen, data centers present an interesting use case. The Biden administration has $7 billion¹⁰ set aside for seven to nine hydrogen hubs across the United States, which would allow for more hydrogen transportation without using over-the-road delivery and potentially bring that energy source to more locations.

No, it's a good way of looking at it—especially if your building is right next to an apartment building. The last thing you'd want is a diesel generator creating this plume of exhaust. If you have a client who needs backup power and doesn't have much space for diesel exhaust to get up above the building, certainly a fuel cell would get you there.

No. With diesel generators, you're running them weekly to ensure they function. Typically, you'll find that they run at 6:00 p.m. on Monday night for 30 minutes or Saturday afternoon.

You really wouldn't want to go to those extremes. The smallest building would probably be a single-story, 5,000- or 10,000-square-foot building. A certain amount of technology goes into this. There are operational costs. There are maintenance costs.

The hydrogen fuel cell also needs hydrogen storage somewhere. Most communities do not have hydrogen pipelines running through them—it's not like natural gas. So, there's going to be some sort of storage tank.

You could equate it to a large refrigerator. They can be stacked to get more power out of the system. It's usually going to be in an unenclosed area—sheltered certainly but not contained within a facility because, again, hydrogen. There are limits to how much hydrogen you want to put in a facility.

Or a shed outside the building, which is adequately marked and set back from vehicles.

Typically, people who elect to install a hydrogen energy system instead of a diesel generator are not looking for a payback on their investment. They're looking at it for other reasons.

These would be customers or clients looking for ‘net zero’ or ‘near net zero’ facilities, in which the energy used at the building is so little that it can be offset by modest energy production. Or the client has a building subject to regulation, such as a “nonattainment zone” set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Or there might be some other externalities that go along with your neighbors. That's when you start looking at these alternative technologies because they offer you something that conventional generators don't.

Potentially — especially if the jurisdiction starts taxing the amount of carbon you emit.

It's really those people who want to market their properties, businesses, or nonprofits as friends of the earth.