A new Whole Foods Market in Glastonbury, Connecticut will be the first supermarket to generate most of its power on-site with a fuel cell.
The new 46,000-square-foot store will generate 50 percent of the electricity and heat and nearly 100 percent of the hot water needed to operate the store from the UTC Power fuel cell.
More than half of the energy potential in traditional power plants is lost to the atmosphere as waste heat or in line transmission losses. In contrast, the fuel cell system captures its exhaust energy for local cooling and heating. The harnessed exhaust energy at the store will cool refrigeration cases year-round and heat the store in the winter months.
Whole Foods received a $940,000 grant from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund to be used toward the purchase of the fuel cell, AP reports.
