Ok, who hasn't seen this ad running here on PC ... and what the heck is it? When you click the link (maybe that was my mistake) it touts the product as a WAY better way to generate electricity than PV. But it uses natural gas. So how can it qualify for renuable energy incentives? If it's using natural gas ... what's the byproduct? Plus, if it's only lasting 10 years (as opposed to 20+ for solar) ... does it matter if it's over twice as efficient as solar ... when it costs so much? Thoughts? .
Haven't seen it but I assume it is an in-home micro cogeneration unit. This makes sense in the winter in cold climates where the waste heat can be directly utilized increasing the overall thermal efficiency of the unit well above that of a typical power plant. Essentially one's electricity would be free for ~6 months/year. As always, the problem is installed cost.
Looks like a white box that converts natural gas to electricity by somehow catalyzing it instead of burning it, which is reportedly less polluting. They're apparently advertising in this forum to target their marketing.
I never see those ads. There is some setting I changed months ago in my PC profile (I think) that suppresses all of those annoying ads. Check it out.
Well, it uses a catalyst, probably platinum, to go from methane to hydrogen. Once you have the hydrogen, you can either burn it or use a fuel cell There are a variety of fuel cell technologies that will allow an electrochemical process, you will get DC, heat, and water as byproducts This technology would be ideally suited for CHP (Combined Heat and Power) in a commercial office building, or apartment building, but would probably be cost-prohibitive for a standard home. The real savings would occur with preheating water, say for a chemical process, or for hot water heat Though no doubt as production ramps, the costs would come down. Who knows, maybe in a decade or so, this might be a good alternative for most homes
