Dorothy may have tapped her ruby slippers together wishing to be back home in Kansas, but it’s the Brits who have made a home of hydrogen in the West Midlands area. The University of Birmingham and the Black Country Housing Group (BCHG) collaborated in making this residential fuel cell dream a reality.
The UK hydrogen home is connected to the grid so that it can sell extra electricity to the utility company during times when the homeowners are away and the house can also receive electricity from the grid as needed. Baxi Innotech supplied the fuel cell system which uses the standard natural gas pipeline for the house.
The natural gas is reformed into hydrogen, which is run through the fuel cell to create 1.5 kw of electricity. The system also can create 3 kw of heat as well, including hot water for showers, baths and dishwashing as well as the space heaters situated throughout the home.
The news of Great Britain’s hydrogen home comes right after last week’s news of the University of Glamorgan opening the country’s first Hydrogen Fuel Research Center. The Glamorgan project will use both solar and wind energy to create hydrogen renewably and cheaply for use in fuel cell cars.
With the Brits attacking the hydrogen front for both home and cars, it’s only a matter of time before these two puzzle pieces to the hydrogen economy come together and fall nicely into place.
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