It's your world: 'Home power' key to future

 It's your world: 'Home power' key to future











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By Robert Rae


Making the most of Britain's wind ener-gy resources could become a
whole lot easier thanks to revolutionary green energy technology
developed by ITM Power.

The company, whose research centre is based in Sheffield and which has
plans to open a manufacturing plant in the city, is one of the leading
developers of products that will fuel what is being dubbed the "Hydro-
gen Economy."
The Hydrogen Economy's success depends on splitting water into its
constituent elements - hydrogen and oxygen - using technology called
an electrolyser.
In the past this has been very expensive - costing more than $2,000 to
produce enough hydrogen to generate a kilowatt of power.
But ITM's advanced technology has slashed the price to less than $165
a kilowatt.
One of the criticisms of windpower is you can't guarantee there will
be enough wind to power generating turbines when you want it.
But with an efficient electrolyser you can produce and store hydrogen
when the wind is available and use it to generate electricity or power
conventional combustion engines when it's not.
ITM chief executive Jim Heathcote says until now one of the major
concerns about the viability of the hydrogen economy has been the need
to create a "hydrogen infrastructure" to pipe hydrogen to the home, to
industry and to pumps at what we currently think of as petrol
stations.
But ITM's development of the low-cost electrolyser opens the way to
install the hydrogen infrastructure in every home, making the need to
lay new pipelines
to home and industry an irrelevance.
Instead, all anyone would have to do is use off peak electricity to
generate hydrogen overnight so it can be used to fuel cars, domestic
appliances and other equipment during the day.
ITM has already shown it is possible to set up a 'hydrogen home' and
is working on a home electrolyser refuelling system for a bi-fuel car
that would run on hydrogen on the first 25 miles - the average daily
journey in the US and more than double the average for the UK - before
automatically switching to petrol for longer journeys.
The recharger pictured is a design study for a 10kW system that could
be installed in a domestic garage. It could refuel a car with hydrogen
overnight, using cheap rate electricity, wind or solar power.
Last Updated: 07 February 2007
http://www.sheffieldtoday.net/ViewArticle.aspx?SectionID=60&ArticleID=2=
029455

  lkgeo1 wrote:

I don't quite understand the cost of producing hydrogen, quote from the
article:
----
The Hydrogen Economy's success depends on splitting water into its
constituent elements – hydrogen and oxygen – using technology called an
electrolyser.
In the past this has been very expensive – costing more than $2,000 to
produce enough hydrogen to generate a kilowatt of power.
But ITM's advanced technology has slashed the price to less than $165 a
kilowatt.
----

Cost is $165/kW ???

I don't see how hydrogen with these prices are worth while? Is there a
typo in the article?

//lm

 

LM wrote:


There's a bee in lkgeo1's bonnet !

Graham

 wrote:

Pardon my ignorance, but what does that mean?

 LM wrote:


Per kW - or per kW-hr ?

$165 would give me 1500 hours (62 days) of 1-kw draw at the current
rates I pay.