technologyscanning

Energy/Power Fuel Cell Technology Systems Fuel cell technology combines hydrogen and oxygen to generate Generation electricity and pure water. This technology is virtually silent and produces The technology findings here relate no pollution. Fuel cells can be used to to alternative means of power power vehicles, homes, factories, and creation, conservation or offices. They are modular in design , conversion against traditional gas, making them versatile in configuration. Courtesy: Nuvera Fuel Cells coal-produced electric, or nuclear- based power. This area of Fuel Cells Engineering Framework sustainable energy technology is at and Road Map the forefront of a number of Pacific Northwest National industries including housing. Laboratory, Material Resources Group, is establishing a systems engineering framework for the development of fuel cells. They are defining barriers and mapping a plan for advanced fuel cell Technology Scanning development. Nuvera intends to work with leading One of PATH’s major research support Contact: services is PATH Technology Scanning. organizations around the world to Technology Scanning tells us about Bernie Saffell demonstrate and test the commercial technology developments in other Pacific Northwest National Laboratory viability of small-scale power modules. industries, from other nations, from federal Richland, WA laboratories, and from other building The demonstrations will be designed to sectors. PATH looks for breakthroughs in Phone: 509-372-4565 increase overall awareness and perception other industries that could be transferred Email: [email protected] of fuel cells among consumers as viable and applied to housing. Technology www.pnl.gov/fuelcells Scanning–published by the U.S. clean energy alternatives. Nuvera was Department of Housing and Urban Nuvera Introduces Line of Residential formed in April 2000 in a merger of Development/PATH and prepared by the De Nora Fuel Cells, Milan, Italy, and Epyx NAHB Research Center, Inc.–are updated as Fuel Cell Modules Corp, a fuel processing division of the technology developments dictate. The In response to a growing need for Research Center works to unite technology American consulting firm of alternative on-site energy solutions, developers from outside of residential Arthur D. Little. construction with manufacturers in the Nuvera is developing small-scale fuel cell residential housing sector. power modules designed to provide a Contact: This issue of Technology Scanning is range of deployable power anywhere, Nuvera Fuel Cells one in a series. Each issue in the series falls anytime. The modules are flexible fuel Deborah Cullen into one of the following categories: Cambridge, MA • Design and Internet Tools cell technology that provide the user • Safety freedom of fuel choice from hydrogen, Phone: 617-498-5398 • Surfaces and Interior Finishes , or propane. Email: [email protected] • Building Envelope Technologies www.nuvera.com • Electrical The units are intended for remote • Plumbing • Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning power use away from a power grid or as • Energy/Power Systems Generation residential backup to traditional power • Basic Materials • Information Technology sources. Three lines of compact, stacked • Sustainable Design Strategies fuel cells in aesthetically pleasing • Materials Recycling and Reuse housing are under development: • Thermal and Moisture Protection • Indoor Environmental Quality l Premium Fuel Cell Module 1kW - Call the ToolBase Hotline at Propane 800-898-2842 for information about other available Technology Scanning issues. Or, l Premium Fuel Cell Module 1kW - log onto pathnet.org and www.toolbase.org. Hydrogen l Premium Fuel Cell Module 5kW – Natural Gas

451 7th Street, SW Washington, DC 20410 Email: [email protected]

Issue 1 November 2001 Fuel Cell Technology,,, World’s Largest Fuel Cell Installation Passau, the fuel cell provider, feels it Solar Dynamic Energy Conversion continued Middletown, Connecticut, USA will help users get comfortable with fuel This conversion technology Juvenile Training Center, has ordered a cells in and around the home and generates electricity/power with a small 1.2 MW fuel cell system for an estimated encourage greater use of fuel cell surface area. It is lightweight, and has a $18 million. It is to be installed by Select adoption for homes, cars, appliances, and higher power-weight ratio than Energy. This will be the largest single outdoor power equipment. The VP of conventional photovoltaics. It can be installation to date. When fully debugged Marketing for NovArs GmbH said, “If applied to housing with a relatively small and operational, it will provide a major people get comfortable with this surface area and power generation units. technology on a small scale, they are portion of the facility’s power. Contact: more likely to have confidence with it on Great Lakes Industrial Technology Center Iceland to Demonstrate First Real a larger scale.” John Glenn Research Center Hydrogen Based Economy MIT is currently performing tests on Cleveland, OH the new application. Iceland announced plans to start a Phone: 216-433-4000 fleet of hydrogen powered fuel cell buses Contact: and hydrogen filling stations to provide Manhattan Scientifics, Inc. Solar Cell Technology and Systems the world’s first real demonstration of a Marvin Maslow for Houses hydrogen-based economy. A consortium New York, NY Sanyo, a Japanese maker of of companies including Shell Hydrogen, Phone: 212-752-0505 electronics, has developed a new structure Daimler-Chrysler, and Norsk Hydro, will Email: [email protected] cell, called HIT, with 17 percent mass spend about $6.5 million U.S. dollars to www.mhtx.com/media-center/ production line cell efficiency. This new start up the project. The four-year project pressrelease30.htm hybrid structure of a cell reduces energy will demonstrate the viability and loss and is the world’s highest efficiency implementation issues for a hydrogen- for a prototype cell at 20 percent. Sanyo’s based economy. Three buses powered by Photovoltaic/Solar Technology goal for the new process is a low-cost, fuel cells and a refilling station at an Solar technologies have been large- volume production solar cell for existing Shell retail site will be at the around for a long time. However, our housing. To date these cells have been heart of the demonstration. knowledge of solar technology has applied in houses as shingles in Japan’s test houses. The key technology Fuel Cell Vacuum Cleaner improved greatly over the past few decades. There are now better, more breakthrough has been in the application Electrolux LLC has designed, and is practical applications to harness the sun’s of a thin film technology of Amorphous ready to release with the assistance of power. Photovoltaic conversion occurs Silicon (a-SI:H cell) on a crystalline Manhattan Scientifics, Inc., the first fuel within solar cells made from silicon. Silicon base. Pilot manufacturing lines cell powered vacuum. Using technology Multiple cells are connected together and have demonstrated mass production from NovArs GmbH, located near Passau, sealed to form modules which capability and potential efficiency. , the stacked fuel cell is a collect the sun’s energy and convert it Contact: composite material held together with into electricity. Solec International, Inc. sealants instead of bolts. The cells are Jawid Shahryar lightweight and generate power of 1,000 Carson, CA watts. Electrolux will sell the backpack Phone: 310-834-5800 (x207) vacuum cleaner next year. Email: [email protected] www.sanyo.com/aboutsanyona/ company_profiles/solec.html

Hpower’s RCU 1-10 kW AC residential unit. Courtesy: Hpower The Georgetown University Fuel Cell Bus. window frame is being pursued as well. Reliability and durability will be key attributes to prove. Contact: National Center for Photovoltaics National Laboratory Golden, CO Email: [email protected] www.nrel.gov/ncpv.NCPVHotline Courtesy: Fuel Cells 2000 Solar-Shell Renewables Technology to turn the sun’s rays into power on earth has been around for SunSlates Roofing and Photovoltaics Integrated into Windows some time, but recent focused efforts Façade Systems The National Renewable Energy around photovoltaics are forging new Atlantis Solar Systems’ strategy has Laboratory has integrated a PV inroads. The energy conversion takes been to incorporate photovoltaic electrochromatic device into smart place within a solar cell manufactured technology into building products. In its windows. Termed PV-EC Smart Window, from silicon. Multiple cells are connected first demonstration project installed in this technology could derive better together and sealed into solar power Switzerland one year ago, they used functional use of the window and reduce modules. Shell has recently opened a SunSlates photovoltaic, a thin-film solar heating and cooling needs of the building state-of-the-art solar cell plant in cell roofing and façade product. Since by 25 percent, lighting demand by 50 Germany. It is the world’s most integrated then, it has been used successfully in percent, and peak power demand by 30 plant and ’s largest single solar Burgdorf Switzerland’s Regional Hospital, percent. A dye-sensitized solar cell cell line. With their size and technical along with 70 other applications across electrode is the heart of the technology know-how, Shell has produced Germany and Switzerland. Solar Building and can be used in conjunction with cooperative efforts in Amersfoot, Holland, Systems LTD, Exmore, VA, have installed today’s known window technologies of with 70 architects to bring about the some systems in the U.S. Low e coatings, gas fills, and space largest solar residential development in Europe. Through a joint venture with a Contact: evacuation techniques. Making the cells thin enough to be semi-transparent to the South African utility company, Eskom, Atlantis Solar Systems Shell is bringing sun-derived power to Jorn Jurgens human eye is one of the technical challenges being worked on. Another 50,000 homes in remote areas not Bern, Switzerland connected to public power grids. They Phone: +41 31 300 3200 method of building the cells into the Email: [email protected] www.atlantisenergy.com/as1.htm Photovoltaic Cladding Located just outside London, the University of Southampton is the first building to have mono-crystalline vertically mounted PV arrays generating Credit Jim Yost electricity. It is the most monitored, most watched installation of PVs. The goal is not only to collect performance data, but also reliability, durability, and economic data. A total of 96 modules are configured in sub-arrays divided across four levels of the building. Contact: Abubakr S. Bahaj Sustainable Energy Research Group University of Southampton Civil and Environmental Department Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK Phone: + 44 23 80 592051 Email: [email protected] www.soton.ac.uk/~serg/solar/solar.htm

Mid-sized photoelectrochromic window turning dark under a voltage applied by two small PV cells attached to the side of the window. Amorphous Solar Cells A company representative said Amorphus silicon solar cells hold a DunaSolar has great interest in working number of advantages over typical crystal with the U.S. building industry on solar silicon cells. They can be manufactured photovoltaics and would be interested in using less energy and raw materials, further test installations or pilot which promises to be a lower cost and applications. They also would like to work Courtesy: PowerLight Corporation more environmentally friendly means to with some roofing manufacturers on produce cells in mass production integration. quantities. Also, their thin film design Contact: allows for physical flexibility and the DunaSolar Inc, ability to be fabricated into large-area Budapest, Hungary cells, or wide varieties of shapes and sizes. Phone: +361 431 9620 ask for the Market Embedding them into other substrates is Applications manager also easier due to their thin www.dunasolar.com configuration. Manufacturers see great Quick Connectors for Easier potential for integration of function and Installation Solar Cells design. Contact: Solel of Israel introduced a simple, innovative technology at Sustain 2001, The hybrid solar/wind project at Parker Baekaert ECD Solar Systems LLC Ranch, Waimea, Hawaii, leverages daytime Auburn Hills, MI which allows flexible, quick connection of sunlight and warm Hawaiian winds. Phone: 248-475-0100 solar cells to create large banks of cells. Email: [email protected] Efficiently connecting larger banks of www.ovonic.com/unisolar.html cells results in lower costs, reduced thermal loss, and higher efficiency. Their DunaSolar-Amorphous Solar Cells system avoids harmful emissions and is Solar-Shell have supplied Shell Oil’s offshore drilling maintenance-free once installed. Renewables, rigs with solar power in harsh conditions Amorphous silicon solar cells Contact: continued with special adaptations. They are provide 8-15 percent more energy than crystalline ones when illumination is low Solel Solar Systems LTD supplying Sun Stations (combinations of Israel solar and biomass) for village electrical (scattered cloudiness). Dunsolar is one of Phone: 972-2-9996620 needs in the Philippines. Solar power the leading producers of these cells. They www.solel.com generation is expected to grow by 22 currently have U.S. test sites with UL- approved panels in Davis and percent per year to a capacity of 1.5-2 Photovoltaics and Wind Power Hybrid Sacramento, CA, in industrial and public Gigawatts by 2010. System Installed in Waimea, Hawaii buildings. Their Sacramento sites will be Contact: Contact: the focus of a tour at the 6th annual UPVG One of the world’s largest hybrid Shell Solar BV Photovoltaic Conference in October 2001. solar/wind energy power projects is up Amsterdam Netherlands and running in Waimea, Hawaii, at Phone: +31 20 630 3000 Parker Ranch on the Big Island. The 175 www. shell-renewables.com kW’s of PV panels are a ground-mounted tracker system that rotates to follow the sun east to west, capturing the maximum

The hybrid solar/wind project at Parker Ranch features 175 kW of solar and 50

kW of wind turbines. Courtesy: PowerLight Corporation amount of the sun’s power, supplemented Gas station for hydrogen by 50 kW’s of energy produced by five vehicles Sun wind turbines. The combined system leverages clean renewable energy 24 +CO2 Hydrogen hours a day providing power for the Storage

ranch’s water pumping operations. The Follow-/Reserve Land Harvesting/ Biomass Steamreformer G. Johnssen Wolf Courtesy: Dr. Transport Storage cost of the hybrid system is more than Electricity covered by the amount of reduced utility Gas Clean-Up Fuel Cell bills. The entire system was designed and Feedstock for Biomass 2-3 Weeks Gas Conditioning installed by PowerLight Corporation of Energy Conversion Preparation California. Contact: Dedicated Biomass Minimized Transport Distance H2O Mineral Ash H2O Heat (e.g. C4-reeds) () PowerLight Corporation Small power plants Decentral/Distributed Berkeley, CA Carbon Deposition operating near biomass sites Power Generation Phone: 510-540-0550 Closed Water Loop www.PowerLight.com

Up to 500 kg H O per 1000 kg dry biomass Italian Government Speeds Adoption 2 Process for PV The Electro-FarmingTM Concept The Italian government allocated L60 billion (approx $28 million U.S.) for a program to provide incentives for the early adoption of PV technology. BioMass Technology energy carriers (perennial plants, rapidly Approximately $9 million goes toward growing trees, annual plants and Biomass technology converts waste grasses); and public, government, and municipal stream material or rapidly renewable Natural building and packaging buildings’ installation of PV, while about plant material into useful heat and/or l materials. $19 million will be used for private sector electricity. Some current applications in The patented Electro-Farming and households that wish to use PV to Europe take waste from wood processing process enhances the role of biomass in supply a significant portion of their power industries or the agricultural sector and future power supply via a new process for needs. Up to 75 percent of the cost of the produce briquettes and pellets. These are the thermo-chemical transformation of system will be covered in the form of then burned cleanly in specially designed biomass. The biomass is broken down grants from this program. This is a good units which can heat factories, offices, into its chemical components, and then example of government providing funds and even homes. to get technology adopted and in use in cooked with high temperature steam. The both the public and private sector. BioMass = Chemically Stored water is cracked into its components, Contact: Solar Energy hydrogen and oxygen. This process results in a high conversion rate of energy/unit Dr. Leonardo Berlen, Rome Italy Biomass Co-generation and Phone: +39 06 442 49241-47 Electro-Farming is a process to use and of weight. This process opens the door for the commercially viable production of Email: [email protected] harness nature’s power. BioMass for hydrogen from biomass for fuel cells. www.isesitalia.it energetic conversion results from many sources: Small or mini-plants can produce small batches for local consumption, even to

l Waste material from forestry the extent of a home producing and recultivation; processing its own biomass into hydrogen l Recycling from landscape for fuel cell use, thereby greatly reducing conservation measures; infrastructure and transportation energy l Recycling from the wood processing envisioned for delivering biomass or industry; hydrogen to individual customers. l By-products from the agricultural Electro-Farming has the capability to sector; develop the smallest possible power plants with the highest possible efficiency levels l By-products from the food processing industry (olives, lemon peels); and low operating costs. Specific cultivation of biogenic Contact: l Dr. Wolf G. Johnssen Grottenberg, Germany Phone: +49 8138 92950 Email: [email protected] Christine Angerer USA Phone: 914-310-4435 Email: [email protected] Biomass -Shell Renewables In , biomass is in action International Awards for Residential Shell Oil might change its name providing energy to industrial and Biomass Heating Unit one day to eliminate the word “oil.” The residential customers using bark residues OkoFen, a German company, has name of one of its fastest growing from a nearby wood processing plant. won several international awards for its divisions, Shell Renewables, could be a Whitewood briquettes are being marketed innovative residential heating unit that leading contender. Biomass is in the to customers for heating alternatives to runs off biomass pellets. Its powerful commercially viable stage. The idea of its fuel oils, using specially designed units design and function were awarded the use is proven but the logistics and for residential homes. These commercial Energy Globe 2001 and the Innovation commercial selling of it is yet to be tried pilots are beginning to show competitive 2000 award by the world sustainable in large scale. Shell Renewables’ goal is potential against gas, oil, and coal even energy community. It provides heat for to develop a dedicated wood fueled in these early stages. hot water systems and radiant heating biomass business on a worldwide scale Contact: systems. It is self-cleaning and with a 10 percent global share for Shell Renewables automatically compresses the ashes Biomass by 2010, with several hundred Shell Centre produced. It delivers fully automated megawatts of capacity in place by 2005. London UK heating needs fueled by biomass pellets Already demonstration trials are Phone: +44 171 934 3628/ 3646 that burn clean. OkoFen is a pioneer in underway in Chile and Uruguay, showing www. shell-renewables.com pellet burning systems and today’s a scaled infrastructure producing (in market leader. They were one of the most conjunction with Shell Forestry) and popular exhibits for residential energy using biomass to generate clean power systems at the Sustain 2001: Sustainable with total regard for the environment. Energy Exposition. The unit is very well Larger scale capacity is being developed designed, compact and installation ready. in Northern and Central Europe. Contact: OkoFen Pellet Heating Phone: 0043 0 7286/7450 www.pelletsheizung.at