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Posted by Robert Swinney on January 17, 2007, 12:12 pm
Please log in for more thread options Good article but it espouses an idea that is totally impractical at this
time.
Bob Swinney
> Would you do it if you could?
>
> TMT
>
>
> Solar power eliminates utility bills in New Jersey home By Jon Hurdle
>
> Michael Strizki heats and cools his house year-round and runs a full
> range of appliances including such power-guzzlers as a hot tub and a
> wide-screen TV without paying a penny in utility bills.
>
> His conventional-looking family home in the pinewoods of western New
> Jersey is the first in the United States to show that a combination of
> solar and hydrogen power can generate all the electricity needed for a
> home.
>
> The Hopewell Project, named for a nearby town, comes at a time of
> increasing concern over U.S. energy security and worries over the
> effects of burning fossil fuels on the climate.
>
> "People understand that climate change is a big concern but they don't
> know what they can do about it," said Gian-Paolo Caminiti of Renewable
> Energy Associates, the commercial arm of the project. "There's a
> psychological dividend in doing the right thing," he said.
>
> Strizki runs the 3,000-square-foot house with electricity generated by
> a 1,000-square-foot roof full of photovoltaic cells on a nearby
> building, an electrolyzer that uses the solar power to generate
> hydrogen from water, and a number of hydrogen tanks that store the gas
> until it is needed by the fuel cell.
>
> In the summer, the solar panels generate 60 percent more electricity
> than the super-insulated house needs. The excess is stored in the form
> of hydrogen which is used in the winter -- when the solar panels can't
> meet all the domestic demand -- to make electricity in the fuel cell.
> Strizki also uses the hydrogen to power his fuel-cell driven car,
> which, like the domestic power plant, is pollution-free.
>
> Solar power currently contributes only 0.1 percent of U.S. energy needs
> but the number of photovoltaic installations grew by 20 percent in
> 2006, and the cost of making solar panels is dropping by about 7
> percent annually, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.
>
> As costs decline and the search accelerates for clean alternatives to
> expensive and dirty fossil fuels, some analysts predict solar is poised
> for a significant expansion in the next five to 10 years.
>
> STATE SUPPORT
>
> The New Jersey project, which opened in October 2006 after four years
> of planning and building, cost around $500,000, some $225,000 of which
> was provided by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. The state, a
> leading supporter of renewable energy, aims to have 20 percent of its
> energy coming from renewables by 2020, and currently has the largest
> number of solar-power installations of any U.S. state except
> California.
>
> New Jersey's utility regulator supported the project because it helps
> achieve the state's renewable-energy goals, said Doyal Siddell a
> spokesman for the agency.
>
> "The solar-hydrogen residence project provides a tremendous opportunity
> to reduce greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming," he said.
>
> The project also got equipment and expertise from a number of
> commercial sponsors including Exide, which donated some $50,000 worth
> of batteries, and Swageloc, an Ohio company that provided stainless
> steel piping costing around $28,000. Strizki kicked in about $100,000
> of his own money.
>
> While the cost may deter all but wealthy environmentalists from
> converting their homes, Strizki and his associates stress the project
> is designed to be replicated and that the price tag on the prototype is
> a lot higher than imitators would pay. Now that first-time costs of
> research and design have been met, the price would be about $100,000,
> Strizki said.
>
> But that's still too high for the project to be widely replicated, said
> Marchant Wentworth of the Union of Concerned Scientists, an
> environmental group in Washington. To be commonly adopted, such
> installations would have to be able to sell excess power to the grid,
> generating a revenue stream that could be used to attract capital, he
> said.
>
> "You need to make the financing within reach of real people," Wentworth
> said.
>
> Caminiti argues that the cost of the hydrogen/solar setup works out at
> about $4,000 a year when its $100,000 cost is spread over the
> anticipated 25-year lifespan of the equipment. That's still a lot
> higher than the $1,500 a year the average U.S. homeowner spends on
> energy, according to the federal government. Even if gasoline costs
> averaging about $1,000 per car annually are included in the energy mix,
> the renewables option is still more expensive than the grid/gasoline
> combination.
>
> But for Strizki and his colleagues, the house is about a lot more than
> the bottom line. It's about energy security at a time when the federal
> government is seeking to reduce dependence on fossil fuels from the
> Middle East, and it's about sustaining a lifestyle without emitting
> greenhouse gases.
>
> For the 51-year-old Strizki, the project is his life's work. "I have
> dedicated my life to making the planet a better place," he said.
>
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