(3) Chisaki Watanabe, Ene-Farms Use Hydrogen to Power Homes but Don't Come Cheap.
www.businessweek.com/articles/20 ... -pitch-clean-energy
“Japanese companies are leading the charge to convince homeowners they’re better off using hydrogen to power their lamps and TVs, too. The electricity is generated by so-called energy farms, or ene-farms, about the size of a refrigerator. They’re made by companies such as Panasonic and Toshiba and sold by leading utilities, including Tokyo Gas. * * * a standard home unit costs about $16,700 * * * commercial sales began in 2009 * * * To generate electricity, an ene-farm pumps natural gas from a local utility into its fuel cell, which uses a processor to extract the hydrogen and mix it with oxygen from the surrounding air. * * * the byproduct is excess heat that can supply a home with hot water. * * * Large hydrogen fuel cells power a smattering of factories and commercial buildings in the US and Europe”)
My comment:
(a) Chisaki WATANABE 渡辺 千咲 (The "chi" and "sen" are Japanese and Chinese pronunciation of the kanji 千.)
(b) Japanese English dictionary
* oso-zaki 遅咲き 【おそざき】 (n): "late blooming (flower, talent); late flowering"
The root form is "saki" but the "s" in "saki" is softened to "z" when situated in the middle of the compound word. See compound (linguistics)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compound_%28linguistics%29
* haya-zaki 早咲き 【はやざき】 (n): "early blooming; early flowering"
(c) “Chihiro TOBE, head of the office promoting fuel cells at the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry”
経済産業省 (METI) 室長 戸邉 千広
(d) "Masami HIHARA, a Japanese trade ministry official"
室長補佐 日原 正視
(e) fuel cell: 燃料電池 in kanji
(f) The report does not explain Ene-Farms do not use hydrogen directly, but rather through conversion of natural gas (methane). There is no need to read the rest of any of the three following reports.
(i) Honda or Toyota? Which Hydrogen Car Is the One for You? FoxNews, Jan 14, 2015
www.foxnews.com/leisure/2015/01/ ... gen-car-is-one-for/
("The Honda FCV [“Fuel Cell Vehicle” (a generic name, not a trademark)--on the market in 2016] and Toyota Mirai [未來; on same in 2015] are essentially electric vehicles that replace battery packs with the fuel cell and a tank of compressed hydrogen gas [not liquid hydrogen], which can be refilled in about three minutes and provide up to 300 miles of range")
(ii) Steve Dent, What You Need to Know About Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicles. Endgadget, Dec 23, 2014
www.engadget.com/2014/12/23/hydrogen-fuel-cell-explainer/
(“Like a regular battery, fuel cells have an anode, cathode and electrolyte. Most FCVs, like the Mirai or Honda's FCX Clarity, use a polymer exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). In that system, hydrogen is forced through a platinum catalyst under pressure, which splits it into two ions and two electrons. The electrons power the vehicle's electric motor, while the hydrogen combines with oxygen to form water -- which exits as steam "exhaust." Such cells are arranged in stacks to produce enough voltage to power a car”)
(iii) Hydrogen Basics. Fuel Cell 2000, undated
www.fuelcells.org/base.cgim?template=hydrogen_basics
("In nature, hydrogen is never found on its own; it is always combined into molecules with other elements, typically oxygen and carbon. Hydrogen can be extracted from virtually any hydrogen-containing compound, including both renewable and non-renewable resources. * * * The vast majority of today's hydrogen is produced via steam reformation of natural gas (95% in the US, roughly 48% globally)")
In other words, the commercial hydrogen pumps to be in place to serve FCVs get its hydrogen from natural gas (methane). |