|
A home fuel cell is a residential-scaled energy system based on fuel cell technology. It's one of the available technologies for micro combined heat and power (microCHP) or microgeneration. A home fuel cell increases efficiency by simultaneously generating power and heat from one unit to be used on-site within a home, thus eliminating heat loss and transmission loss. Combined heat and power (CHP) fuel cells have demonstrated superior efficiency for years in industrial plants, universities, hotels and hospitals. Residential and small-scale commercial fuel cells are now becoming available to fulfill both electricity and heat demand from one system. Fuel cell technology in a compact system converts natural gas, propane, and eventually biofuels—into both electricity and heat, producing carbon dioxide (and small amounts of NOx) as exhaust. In the future, new developments in fuel cell technologies will likely allow these power systems to run off of biomass instead of natural gas, directly converting a home fuel cell into a renewable energy technology. ==Specifics== * High initial capital costs - As of December 2012, Panasonic and Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. sold about 21,000 PEM Ene-Farm units in Japan for a price of $22,600 before installation.〔(Launch of new 'Ene-Farm' home fuel cell product more affordable and easier to install )〕 * Startup time - PEMFC fuel cell mCHP operates at low temperature (50 to 100 °C) and needs high purity hydrogen, it is prone to contamination, changes are made to operate at higher temperatures and improvements on the fuel reformer. SOFC fuel cell mCHP operates at a high temperature (500 to 1,000 °CP) and can handle different energy sources well but the high temperature requires expensive materials to handle the temperature, changes are made to operate at a lower temperature. Because of the higher temperature, SOFC in general has a longer start-up time. * Lifetime - Around 60,000 hours. For PEM fuel cell units, which shut down at night, this equates to an estimated lifetime of between ten and fifteen years.〔(Latest developments in the Ene-Farm scheme )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Home fuel cell」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|