A bit of a publicity splash is starting for a fuel cell that (allegedly) has already been used by some companies and works well.
It is said to run on natural gas, bio-gas and solar energy (?).
However, as I've noted before, Japan has been quietly deploying natural gas fuel cells for houses for a couple of years. I assume this American version is meant to be significantly better. This part sounds a bit optimistic:
Sridhar said the chemical reaction is efficient and clean, creating energy without burning or combustion. He said that two Bloom boxes - each the size of a grapefruit - could wirelessly power a US home, fully replacing the power grid; one box could power a European home, and two or three Asian homes could share a single box. Although currently a commercial unit costs $700,000-$800,000 each, Sridhar hopes to manufacture home units that cost less than $3,000 in five to 10 years.Elsewhere, the article indicates that the amount of gas used by one of the commercially trialled one is half that which would be used if the gas was used in a normal power station. Interesting, but we will see.
That does sound pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking for a few years that fuel cells don't have to be Hydrogen = Oxygen, any hydrocarbon should do.
Be interesting to see about how extra efficient they are.