Hydrogen in every home How the Japanese are trying to slash energy use and CO2 emissions—by installing fuel cells in people’s backyards.
Yasushi Kawamori has a power plant in his backyard. Not the kind that belches clouds of CO2 into the atmosphere, but the kind that’s small (about the size of a refrigerator and a suitcase placed side by side), quiet (a faint thumping is just audible) and emits a fraction of the carbon dioxide a coal-fired plant would. The system uses a hydrogen fuel cell to convert natural gas into electricity; heat from the reaction generates hot water for himself, his wife and their two children. It’s called a fuel cell cogeneration system, and Kawamori is more than happy to have it in his backyard. “We’re making electricity at our own home, and the heat from that electricity gets used, so it’s really efficient,” he says. “I like that it’s cost-effective and good for the environment.”
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Alex Labarces
May 11, 2009 | 10:42 AMI wonder how long it will take such technologies to be implemented in North America. I think this is an incredible idea!
Dennis Hucul
May 13, 2009 | 10:12 AMAn improvement over using coal as a source for producing electricity but you still end up with 11 pounds of CO2 for every pound of hydrogen generated for the fuel cell.
Alex Labarces
May 13, 2009 | 2:21 PMSo clearly an improvement, but I am wondering how you would then make this viable? I mean clearly for every good argument there is a negative one, but where is the balance in using all these technologies??