Personalized energy systems for heating, cooling, and powering cars
September 2, 2010
MIT scientists envision inexpensive home-brewed solar energy systems for powering homes and plug-in cars during the day (left) and for producing electricity from a fuel cell at night (right). (Patrick Gillooly/MIT)
MIT researchers have developed a new concept of personalized energy systems, in which individual homes and small businesses produce their own energy for heating, cooling and powering cars.
“Our goal is to make each home its own power station,” said study leader Daniel Nocera, Ph.D of MIT. “We’re working toward development of ‘personalized’ energy units that can be manufactured, distributed and installed inexpensively. There certainly are major obstacles to be overcome — existing fuel cells and solar cells must be improved, for instance. Nevertheless, one can envision villages in India and Africa not long from now purchasing an affordable basic system.”
Such a system would consist of rooftop solar energy panels to produce electricity for heating, cooking, lighting, and to charge the batteries on the homeowners’ electric cars. Surplus electricity would go to an “electrolyzer,” a device that breaks down ordinary water into its two components, hydrogen and oxygen. Both would be stored in tanks. At night, when the solar panels cease production, the system would shift gears, feeding the stored hydrogen and oxygen into a fuel cell that produces electricity (and clean drinking water as a byproduct). Such a system would produce clean electricity 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
More info: American Chemical Society news
Comments (3)
by Wiggletoes
These villages maybe better served by a system for collecting and processing urine in preparation for electrolysis because the processes should be net energy positive http://www.physorg.com/news165836803.html.
PS – They still could drink the water from their fuel cells but they may what to do something else with it.
by LaboriousCretin
Yes this and personalized gardens is a huge part of the key to reduction of the burdon to the electrical grid and food production . solar power wind turbin generators personal farm’s or gardens waist reduction and recycling . But the biggest problem is selling this to outhers stuck in old way’s and subsidizing some of it so it will be cheaper for all or most .
by SkipErnst
I can see third world countries potentially getting more benefit from decentralized power sources than industrialized nations. Industrialized nations with large power creation/delivery infrastructure will find lots of reasons (jobs, politics, etc) to keep people using those current systems rather than their own backyard power sources. Less developed countries will not have this sort of desire to maintain the status quo.