Patent ID: 8277992

Claim:
A method of operating a fuel cell electrochemical system, comprising: operating a fuel cell in a fuel cell mode to generate electricity at a first operating efficiency and a first throughput; receiving at least one of a cost of electricity and a cost of fuel; and adjusting an operating efficiency and throughput of the fuel cell based on the at least one of the received cost of electricity and the received cost of fuel to operate the fuel cell to generate electricity at a second operating efficiency and a second throughput different from the first operating efficiency and the first throughput; wherein the at least one of operating efficiency and throughput of the fuel cell is adjusted for operation in the fuel cell mode; and wherein the step of adjusting comprises adjusting the operating efficiency in the fuel cell mode to be about equal to an optimum efficiency and adjusting the throughput of the fuel cell to be below an optimum throughput when the cost of electricity is lower than a predetermined cost or the cost of fuel is higher than a predetermined cost.