Leisure centre gets UK's first fuel cell system
Date: 06-Sep-01
Country: UK
International Fuel Cells (IFC), part of United Technologies Corp, said its 200-kilowatt fuel cell system will provide electricity and heat for Woking Borough Council's Pool in the Park leisure centre.
Fuel cells produce electricity and heat in an electrochemical reaction between hydrogen or hydrogen-rich fuel and oxygen. Fuel cells work without combustion and water is the main by-product.
Woking, in southern England, said installing fuel cells was part of its strategy to prompt the use of sustainable energy sources.
"We are proud to be the first site in the United Kingdom to employ fuel cell technology in everyday use", said the Council's Allan Jones.
Interest in fuel cells has grown in recent years because the technology produces little or no toxic emissions. It has found applications in such diverse locations as an Alaskan post office and the U.S. space programme.
One of IFC's PC25 fuel cell system, which will be working in Woking by the end of the year, creates less than one ounce (28.35 gram) of pollution to generate 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity compared with 25 pounds (11.34 kilogram) of pollutants for conventional, combustion generating systems.
In recent years the world's automakers have been working on building a fuel cell engine for vehicles with the world's largest car manufacturer General Motors, the latest to unveil last month its version of a fuel cell.
