The Stuart Island Energy Initiative proves that you can manufacture electricity enough to power your home along with some spare Hydrogen if you’re prepared to work for it. And spend around $50,000. Which is way better than spending $500,000 of course. And here’s a useful link if you want to learn more about domestic Hydrogen and fuel cell tech.
What are our goals? We were tired of hauling banks of 120 lb batteries to our remote, off-the-grid island home. We were tired of blowing CO2 into the atmosphere by running a diesel generator. We are fascinated by fuel cell technology: Although working installations are few, fuel cells will be an important part of our energy future. We decided to build a hydrogen system in the field, to explore and test the technology. Our system uses solar power to run electrolyzers, which split water to make hydrogen. We store the H2 gas in a 500 gallon tank and use it to run a fuel cell. The only exhaust is water. Thus we have a pollution-free, carbon-neutral electric system, using hydrogen as the energy storage medium.
