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RedjackRyan
01-19-2007, 10:56 AM
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 International, 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.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070118/lf_nm/solar_home_dc

DaveM
01-19-2007, 11:58 AM
There is SUPPOSED to be a emerging technology which would allow solar cells to be manufactured at a small fraction of the cost of present equipment. That would indeed be a breakthrough....

Current solar cell technology, unfortunately, requires the use of acids and heavy metals on a scale which, due to environmental regulations, makes it almost impossible to manufacture them at any reasonable price in the United States.

Rkitko
01-19-2007, 12:48 PM
Alternatively, you could also grow your own home (http://www.popsci.com/popsci/whatsnew/0cb1ec816bc3e010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html).

RedjackRyan
01-19-2007, 12:50 PM
I think we discussed the emerging solar cell tech before, shame its taking so long to be developed as solar is obviously a good choice for some folks. I was blown away by the cost analysis at the end of this article though, 100 grand on top of normal housing costs is way out of the ballpark for any widespread adoption to be happening anytime soon.

Probably wouldn't work well in my neck of the woods anyway, Pittsburgh averages about 80 sunny days a year.


Well now, Rkitko, thats certainly different.. I like the artist conception drawing quite a bit.

Dee
01-20-2007, 05:04 AM
Thanks for the article, Ben.