Taking households from 44% efficiency to 85% efficiency and how it will be done. [View All]

[HysteryDiagnosis]

While this is based on natural gas, solar can crack H2O and the hydrogen derived can be used in a fuel cell, imagine the power lines coming down, the greenhouse gasses disappearing, and the drone of generators becoming a thing of the past during power outages.


http://www.plugpower.com/News/PressReleases/09-07-07/PLUG_POWER_RECEIVES_AWARD_TO_OPERATE_RESIDENTIAL_GENSYS_FUEL_CELLS_IN_NEW_YORK_STATE_HOMES.aspx

LATHAM, NY – July 7, 2009 – Plug Power Inc. (NASDAQ: PLUG), a leader in providing clean, reliable energy solutions today announced that they have received a $1.4 million award from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to install and operate three combined heat and power (CHP) GenSys® fuel cell systems in New York State homes. These systems will allow Plug Power to validate and enhance product features in preparation for broad scale product commercialization. The first system is scheduled to be installed this summer with all three units expected to be operational this year.

A residential GenSys unit will be installed in the basement of each home and will operate in conjunction with the electric grid, running on natural gas. The fuel cell will produce electricity and high-quality heat to satisfy the home’s heating and domestic hot water demands. Plug Power estimates that GenSys will save the homeowner approximately 30% on their monthly utility bill.

The GenSys solution is expected to achieve an overall combined efficiency of 85%. Currently, homes utilizing grid electricity and typical heating systems average 44% household efficiency. “This increased efficiency level yields an annual CO2 reduction roughly equivalent to not driving your car for six months,” said Mark Sperry, Vice President of Plug Power’s Continuous Power Division. “The residential GenSys solution will allow for tremendous reductions in monthly energy bills and greenhouse gas emissions.”

ON EDIT TO ADD:

http://www.fuelcelltoday.com/media/pdf/surveys/2011-Fuel-Cell-Patent-Review.pdf

In 2010, the US and European patent offices published a combined total of 1,801 granted
fuel cell patents. A comparison of this number to the total number of granted patents
published in 2000 and 2005 (Figure 1) shows significant growth in intellectual property
between 2000 and 2005, and again from 2005 to 2010. The increase equates to 347%
growth in annual patent numbers over the decade.

To determine to what extent the increase in fuel cell patents exceeded underlying growth in
general patent activity, we have estimated the number of fuel cell patents that would have
resulted from no more than average growth. These have been calculated from a 2000
baseline using overall patent growth rates from WIPO (see Appendix) and are shown in
orange in Figure 1. Had fuel cell patenting grown in line with general patenting, the number
of fuel cell patents in 2005 would have been just 494 (compared to 861 actual) and in 2010
almost three times fewer at 627.