The power plant in your basement

In the past, stationary fuel cells were megawatt behemoths, designed for the electric utilities. Now they are being shrunk for homes and other modest applications. Solid-oxide fuel cell could provide electricity, heat and hot water to a home. The device operates at 800 degrees Celsius, and some of the heat necessary to sustain such a temperature could be captured and directed into the home's heating ducts and into the hot-water tank. This use of heat that would otherwise be wasted enables the system to put as much as 90 percent of the fuel's chemical energy to productive use. Such a unit, which would produce up to 10 kW of electricity, is being designed by Hydrogen Burner Technology in Long Beach, CA, which plans to begin selling it around 2003.