{"id":1085,"date":"2010-06-16T21:05:20","date_gmt":"2010-06-17T01:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/?p=1085"},"modified":"2010-06-16T21:14:37","modified_gmt":"2010-06-17T01:14:37","slug":"big-fuel-cell-takes-big-new-haven-condo-off-the-grid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/?p=1085","title":{"rendered":"Big Fuel Cell Takes 500-Unit New Haven Condo Off the Grid"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Paul Bass, NEW HAVEN INDEPENDENT, May 28, 2010<\/em><\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a> Crews in the Gulf of Mexico Friday continued to wrestle with the largest oil spill in US history. Meanwhile, a 400-kilowatt fuel cell arrived in New Haven\u2014destined to become the largest such stand-alone clean-energy generator in an apartment complex anywhere in the world.<\/p>\n

Was it a transition to a more hopeful energy future?<\/p>\n

That was the hope of people gathered in downtown\u2019s Pitkin Plaza Friday for a festive \u201cFuel Cell Arrival Ceremony.\u201d<\/p>\n

They watched as a crane and a crew from Smedley Crane & Rigging lifted the trailer-sized metal contraption from a truck to the first floor of 360 State Street, <\/a>the 700,000-square-foot, 33-story commercial-residential complex about to open (in August) at State, Chapel and Orange streets.<\/p>\n

Also Friday, the developer of 360 State\u2014Bruce Becker\u2014revealed plans for a new block-long downtown grocery store. He said the for-profit \u201chybrid\u201d market (selling both natural foods and mainstream products) will occupy about 12,000 square feet fronting Chapel Street on the project\u2019s ground floor, perhaps as soon as the year\u2019s end. Tentative title: the Elm City Food Co-op. (More about that later in this article.)<\/p>\n

Publicly, Friday\u2019s event was all about the fuel cell\u2014and the energy future of cities and the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cI doubt any fuel cell on this planet has been so eagerly awaited,\u201d Bruce Becker (told) told the gathering of movers and shakers assembled in the plaza. \u201cThis is the world\u2019s largest fuel cell in any residential building. We\u2019re making history today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly by changing … the way we build, the way we generate power\u201d can we start to live more sustainably as a society, Becker argued.<\/p>\n

Becker\u2019s firm, Becker & Becker, is spending close to $4 million to purchase and install the fuel cell, which takes in natural gas, removes hydrogen, then strips electrons from the hydrogen atoms to create electricity. It will provide \u201cnearly\u201d 100 percent of the electricity for the complex\u2019s 500 apartments and its stores and common areas. It will heat the building\u2019s water, including in the swimming pool. UTC Power, a South Windsor-based United Technologies subsidiary, manufactured the fuel cell.<\/p>\n

The fuel cell accomplishes goals sought by many people concerned about climate change, foreign wars, or the high cost of energy. It doesn\u2019t burn fossil fuels\u2014which pollute, and make the country dependent on foreign governments or offshore drilling in this country. It\u2019s far cheaper than conventional energy sources, and not reliant on wind or sun, like other alternative sources. [Read rest of story]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bruce Decker, the developer of a 360 State Street in New Haven, has provided it with a 400KW fuel cell that will light and heat the building, as well as provide hot water and warm the swimming pool, taking it off the grid. It’s the first fuel cell for a large US residential building.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":""},"categories":[332,17],"tags":[356,284,524,164,522,526,523],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1085"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1085"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1087,"href":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1085\/revisions\/1087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itstheenvironmentstupid.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}