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ENVIRONMENT
Clean Power Considered for New Research BuildingClean power has two meanings to the backers of a fuel cell power system being considered for two Longwood Medical Area research buildings now being constructed on adjacent sites by HMS and Merck.
Fuel cells work by reacting hydrogen from a fuel source with oxygen from the air to produce electricity and hot water. Fuel cells using natural gas (proposed for the HMS/Merck system) emit carbon dioxide but not other greenhouse gases. The other byproduct, hot water, can be harnessed for other useful heating needs, increasing efficiency and further reducing the need to burn fossil fuels. (Illustration by Jeff Cleary) To Paul Epstein, associate director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment, who hosted a late June workshop at HMS on the topic, fuel cells provide energy at a lower cost to the environment. "We're concerned about the rapid pace of climate change," Epstein said. "The center is increasingly involved in clean energy solutions." To Steve Fairfax, president of the consulting engineering firm MTechnology, who is in the last few months of preparing a final technical evaluation for the HMS/Merck system under consideration, fuel cells can protect sensitive equipment, temperamental experiments, and delicate tissue samples from the power grid's daily fluctuations and major outages. "Your computer is connected to a grid with 25,000 megawatts of generators and millions of customers," Fairfax said. "When anyone does something nasty on the grid, your computer's at risk." The proposed fuel cell power system would be the first use of fuel cells in medical research in the U.S., said Lewis Milford, president of Clean Energy Group, a Vermont-based nonprofit funded by Pew Charitable Trusts and other foundations to match potential fuel-cell users with information, state funds, and other resources. "Health and dollars are riding on the reliability of these electrons," said Milford, a co-organizer of the June workshop. "Most institutions, including health care facilities, don't appreciate the risk of their legacy technologies." Even well-maintained backup diesel generators may fail to cover a sustained power outage, as happened in research labs at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in a summer 1999 heatwave. Power priority was given to hospitals, and the labs' backup generators successively failed, Milford said. As a result, "there were pictures of researchers on page one of The New York Times packing dry ice on frozen brains" in freezers without power. The new research building has two diesel generators on the roof ready to back up the two electrical feeds from NSTAR to the building, an upgrade from the diesel generators backing up older HMS buildings. To bridge the 10-second gap between power grid blackout and emergency backup, and to protect sensitive equipment from the daily vagaries of dirty power, Gary Valcourt, HMS manager of facilities engineering, and his staff will advise on special battery protection known as UPS, which cleans up the power between the outlet and the equipment. Under the proposal, the fuel cell facility would supply about one eighth of each new building's power. The premium power source would be designated by bright orange outlets and obviate the need for UPS devices in every lab. The power grid and rooftop generators would back up the fuel cell system in case of emergency. "No one's saying abandon that protection," Milford said. "We want to add more protection and, over time, reduce investment in the less reliable and more polluting technology." These efforts are underwritten by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, which funded the HMS/ Merck fuel cell feasibility study, helped organize the conference, and promises substantial subsidies to early adopters of the fuel cell technology. Project managers and consultants will be sifting through the technical and financial detail for several months. Whatever the final decision about this proposal, many people see the process as a substantial long-term commitment toward considering and eventually adopting alternative energy sources. --Carol Cruzan Morton |
