Residential Fuel Cells Around the Corner
WESTWOOD, Massachusetts (ENS) - Acumentrics Corporation, a developer of solid oxide fuel cells, has submitted a five kilowatt fuel cell generator that could supply power to a home to federal government authorities for evaluation.
The solid oxide fuel cell generator will be evaluated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce. NIST is responsible for developing rating methodologies for many consumer appliances such as air conditioners and refrigerators.
NIST is using the Acumentrics generator, among others, to help develop a proposed standard for rating the performance of residential fuel cells. They have also evaluated polymer fuel cell technology.
'As fuel cell manufacturers continue to improve the efficiency and reduce the cost of fuel cell technology, the feasibility of residential fuel cells draws closer,' said Mark Davis, the principal investigator of NIST's Residential Fuel Cell Test Facility.
'NIST strongly believes that widespread adoption of residential fuel cells will suffer without a means for future consumers to evaluate the costs and benefits of the technology in terms with which they are familiar,' Davis said.
'NIST provides a critical service to American consumers,' said Gary Simon, Acumentrics' CEO. 'We are looking forward to their feedback, because it is unbiased. And I know our team has developed a safe system, not only in terms of people and buildings, but also the environment.'
Acumentrics, winner of a 2007 New England Innovation Award, believes that its tubular ceramic fuel cells will be most compatible with home use because they offer electric load following and fuel flexibility.
Because Acumentrics' ceramic fuel-cell tubes operate at high temperature, Simon explains, they accept hydrocarbons such as propane, natural gas, and biogas directly.
Acumentrics' fuel cells also can operate on hydrogen, but Simon believes customers are attracted to their compatibility with known, easily obtainable and affordable fuels.
Acumentrics has fielded over 30 fuel cell systems, and is participating in the U.S. Department of Energy's Solid State Energy Conversion Alliance that promotes the development of environmentally friendly solid oxide fuel cells.
The Energy Department calls solid oxide fuel cells one of the cleanest, most efficient power-generating technologies now under development and says they have the highest efficiency of any fuel cell type.
In May, the Energy Department said that six industry teams, including Acumentrics, have successfully completed tests of the first solid oxide fuel cell prototypes that can be manufactured at costs approaching those of conventional stationary power-generation technology.
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