For many in the crowd that will gather there today at a ribbon cutting to open the facility, it is the gospel of the electrical future. The Anchorage post office effort may be the largest commercial fuel cell project in the world, according to the fuel-cell manufacturer. Last year, the Postal Service partnered with Anchorage electric utility Chugach Electric Association and a handful of government agencies and electric research groups to install the fuel cells. The cells produce about 1 million watts of electricity. That's more than enough to power the post office.
Fuel cells are too expensive for most commercial uses.
But costs are falling. Backers of this project say the goal is not to make money but to test on a large scale a technology that is gaining ground. Fuel cells are essentially large batteries. They strip hydrogen off fuels like natural gas and, through a chemical process, convert the hydrogen into electricity. The process produces steam and hot water, but no toxic emissions and little greenhouse gas.