Solar power eliminates utility bills in U.S. home

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyid=2007-01-16T233801Z_01_N09381735_RTRUKOC_0_US-SOLAR-HOME.xml

His conventional-looking family home in the pinewoods of western New Jersey is the first in the United States to show that a combination of solar and hydrogen power can generate all the electricity needed for a home.

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.

why can’t we do this?


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