home fuel cells
 

imho The first manufacturer to make a fuel cell for the house will make it very very rich ! (hello gm-dcx project) they can be made the size of a washing machine or smaller , it could power my house and the car at nite, and you will make a fortune, in the past i always hoped for a nuclear cell to power my house, but didnt want the worries of the spent fuel or nuclear rods and the costs and to recycle ! but not now i need a fuel cell, something that my regular natural gas line could power, and make hydrogen, for my home and the needs of my car. this would clearly eliminate the need for a huge infrastructure of hydrogen gas stations.. if we all had it at home, and only need it to get by on extreme situations such as on the road trips, limited number of stations compared to all gas stations ( for long road trips) it could work out ! honda is doing this now for there fcx, and renting it for 35 to 80 bucks a month plus your natural gasbill, to propell the car only ! imagine if it could power the house and the car ??? hello gm are you listening, id love to hear all your'e feedback on this issue negative and positive on this topic !!

more info on it
>Honda Begins Experiments with Hydrogen Home Energy Station and Improves Solar-Cell Technology for Production of Hydrogen
TORRANCE, Calif., Honda R&D Co., Ltd., Honda's subsidiary responsible for research and development activities has established an experimental Home Energy Station (HES) that generates hydrogen from natural gas for use in fuel cell vehicles while supplying electricity and hot water to the home.
The new HES system that has been jointly developed with strategic fuel cell partner Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ: PLUG) is located on the grounds of Honda R&D Americas in Torrance, California, and will undergo experiments in hydrogen production, storage and fueling, as part of ongoing research into hydrogen energy sources.
The new HES system, which can currently produce enough hydrogen to refill the tank of a Honda FCX hydrogen fuel cell vehicle taking just a few minutes once a day, consists of the following major processes and components:
a reformer to extract hydrogen from natural gas;
a fuel cell unit to provide power for the overall system that utilizes some of the extracted hydrogen;
a refiner to purify the hydrogen;
a compressor for pressurizing the extracted hydrogen; and
a high pressure tank unit to store the pressurized hydrogen.
Honda also announced the development of next-generation solar cell panels made by Honda Engineering, a Honda subsidiary. The new solar panels feature a light-absorbing layer formed by a compound made of copper, indium, gallium and selenium (CIGS) which lowers the amount of electricity required for production process of solar cells, compared with ordinary silicone-crystal type solar cells. The electrolysis unit, which generates hydrogen from water, has been replaced with a new Honda-developed compact unit that achieves higher efficiency using a new Ruthenium based catalyst. Both the new solar cells and the new electrolysis unit are mounted on the Honda solar-cell powered hydrogen refueling station in Torrance, California to improve the total efficiency.
http://world.honda.com/news/2003/image/c031002_3.jpg
Honda has long held the view that hydrogen fuel cell power has the potential to be the next-generation power plant needed to overcome problems related to the development of alternative fuels, reducing exhaust gas emissions, and reducing the effects of global warming. Honda is researching ways to improve the energy efficiency of the hydrogen fuel production process and vehicle efficiency.

Features of the Home Energy Station (HES) Prototype
Location: Honda R&D Americas, Inc.
Torrance, California, U.S.A.
Hydrogen production capacity: Maximum 2Nm3/hour, Purity of 99.99% or higher
Hydrogen storage capacity 400 liters @ 420 atmospheres
System configuration: Reformer
Fuel cells
Refiner
Compressor
High-pressure storage tank




Modified by CarPenter at 10:37 PM 5/17/2005