In likeness, cell sits behind 8-foot fence, wrapped in eco-messages.
It won’t save big money, and it’s as pretty as a shipping container. But it may inform passersby about saving energy. And it enables the city to make an important green statement.
Those were some of the arguments offered by City Engineer Dick Miller as he won final approval for placement of a 400-kilowatt gas- powered fuel cell in Millennium Plaza behind City Hall just off Orange Street.
The unanimous vote by the City Plan Commission means that cell, long in the planning by Giovanni Zinn at the city’s Office of Sustainability, can be delivered in late December and be completely installed by March, if not before.
Its aim in part is to free City Hall and the Hall of Records from receiving, at substantial cost, their heating and cooling from an energy system with which the city contracts at the adjacent Chase CT Financial Center.
In anticipation of the expiration of that contract in 2013, the fuel cell will be installed and go operational as soon as possible, with some of the energy still coming from the neighbors until that contract runs out.
Allan Appel Photo
The lower area, Millennium Plaza near Orange Street, site of the future City Hall fuel cell.
At last Wednesday night’s City Plan meeting, City Engineer Miller said the cell will save $500,000 over 10 years in heating and cooling costs. Zinn later put the net savings at $500,000 to $1 million over that time period. It depends in part on energy prices over the next decade.
The cell is being rented from United Technologies.
Although it’s the city government’s first fuel cell, others have been placed in the city, including at 360 State Street and the rebuilt Roberto Clemente Leadership Academy.
There have been other more generous cost-saving estimates proffered . Click here for a story about initial aldermanic approval to put the cell downtown, through which Zinn estimated a savings of $3.3 million over 20 years.
And here for a story on the project’s background, development, and the key feature of the cell: that the heat it gives off is, ironically, harnessed for purposes of cooling.
At that time Zinn said that the cell will provide 60 percent of the heating load and 30 percent of the cooling for City Hall and the Hall of Records, with the energy center next door providing the balance.
Physically, the fuel cell will not be a thing of beauty. It will look a bit like a shipping container and be surrounded by an eight-foot fence, to be constructed on Millennium Plaza in full view of passersby on Orange Street and by government workers in their comings and goings.
City Plan Commission Chairman Ed Mattison said that it appears the fuel cell will not do a lot to enliven Millennium Plaza, which he described as “a bit of a wasteland.”
“Yes, it is,” Miller concurred. He said the cell, which will have some educational messages on it, will not likely turn Millennium Plaza into a new hot spot, socially speaking.
He also agreed that $500,000 over 10 years is not an immense savings.
“And yet to see an energy-efficient system going in, it makes a statement about the city’s commitment to sustainability,” he argued.
Alderman Justin Elicker asked if the fuel cell will make a lot of noise.
No, Miller replied. He said mechanical engineers have assured him only a low hum is expected.
He said he hopes their prophesies prove true; his office in the 200 Orange building is immediately adjacent.
Seems kind of hypocritical that 360 State is not allowed to use their fuel cell at full capacity, but a block away city hall is installing a shiny new one. And while a fuel cell is sort of "green" it still burns fossil fuels to produce electricity. Were other more environmentally friendly alternatives even looked at? Like solar? If city hall really wants to make a statement on it's sustainability, they could have done a better job by covering the building with solar panels. They would have been more attractive than a big grey box humming in the courtyard.