| Renewable Energy Starts at Home
Imagine a house that gets all of its energy for heating, cooling, and
cooking from batteries that never require changing – batteries as reliable
as the sun. That’s the way Mike Strizki describes the system he uses at his
home in Hopewell, N.J.
In fact, the sun is a key player in Strizki’s home. Sunlight energizes the
56 solar panels that provide energy to his 3,000-square-foot house. More
than half of the energy collected by the panels is converted to hydrogen,
the element that makes up 75 % of the sun’s composition. So while the solar
panels are providing energy to the house when the sun is shining, hydrogen
is simultaneously being stored for use in cloudy weather.
Strizki’s home is the first of its kind – an existing home, retrofitted for
self-sufficient solar and hydrogen power – and, he believes, the first of
many to come. Everything in the house runs on electricity and needs no
external power supply.
Getting Involved
Swagelok became involved in the project when Tracey Simpson, owner and
president of Penn Fluid System Technologies (Penn FST), the authorized
Swagelok sales and service center in Huntingdon Valley, Pa., heard about
Strizki’s plans.
“When I spoke to Strizki and he described his project in detail, I saw it as
an opportunity we couldn’t pass up,” Simpson says.
Strizki already had his solar panels, storage batteries, hydrogen
electrolyzer, generator, and tanks, but not the connection equipment nor the
expertise to tie it together. Penn FST provided the equipment – including
all points of connection and all of the fluid controls – as well as the
assistance to pull it together as efficiently as possible.
Shedding Light on Residential Hydrogen Heating
The Solar-Hydrogen Residence works like this: Photovoltaic solar panels
absorb sunlight, converting its energy into electricity. During the sunny
months, this electricity heats, cools, powers appliances, fills the hot
water tank, and provides energy to cook. At the same time, though, 60 % of
the electricity is diverted to an electrolyzer that pulls hydrogen from
water. This hydrogen is stored on Strizki’s property in 10 1000-gallon
tanks, which employ Swagelok® fluid system components. When energy from the
stored hydrogen is needed, the hydrogen flows to a fuel cell where it is
converted back into electricity.
Swagelok components and expertise keep Strizki warm in his Solar-Hydrogen
Residence in the winter and cool in the summer, all without relying on the
traditional power grid nearly every other home in the country depends on.
His monthly utility bill? Zero.
In all, Swagelok provided 300 feet of 1/2-inch tubing, 16 AFS ball valves,
10 pressure gauges, and many other components to the Solar-Hydrogen
Residence, plus subassembly on two control panels used for controlling the
system.
Swagelok Company’s reputation made it easy for Strizki’s home to be approved
by building code inspectors. “The involvement of Swagelok went a long way in
getting the backing of the inspectors,” Strizki says.
|