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Fuel Cell Facts

• The Hydrogen Fuel Cell was delivered to at the Connecticut Science Center on October 1, 2009 on the south side of the Science Center on Grove Street (facing the Hartford Marriott)
• The Connecticut Science Center, located in downtown Hartford, became the first science center or museum in the country to generate the majority of its electrical power needs on-site with a fuel cell.* *Source: Fuel Cells 2000, a nonprofit, educational organization based in Washington, D.C., with a database of fuel cell installations worldwide.
• This is one of the first fuel cell installations in the state to employ net metering: surplus power from the fuel cell will be fed to the utility grid at night when the facility’s power demand is less.
• The Connecticut Science Center will prevent the release of more than 270 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually by using this fuel cell for power and heat instead of a traditional power plant for electricity and a heat source that burns fossil fuels. To match the carbon dioxide-mitigating benefits of a fuel cell vs. a conventional power plant, you would have to plant 63 acres of forest.
• Fuel cells are among the cleanest energy-generation sources available in the world today and meet the strictest U.S. emission standards.
• Fuel cells combine hydrogen and oxygen in an electrochemical process to produce electricity, heat and water.
• Fuel cells clean and quiet, making them highly attractive in dense, urban environments, such as downtown Hartford, where the Connecticut Science Center is located.
• By generating power on site with a fuel cell and recovering the heat from the electrochemical reaction, the Connecticut Science Center is able to reduce the burden on the New England power grid and its impact on the environment.
• The fuel cell will provide back-up power to the Science Center if the utility grid goes down.
• The Connecticut Science Center’s fuel cell was built by Connecticut-based UTC Power, a United Technologies company. UTC Power is a world leader in developing fuel cells to power buildings, cars and buses. Also, UTC fuel cells have provided electric power and drinking water on all U.S. manned space flights since 1966.
• To match the carbon dioxide-mitigating benefits of a fuel cell vs. a conventional power plant, you would have to plant 63 acres of forest.