Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited : Smart Home Family update - results after 18 month
02/05/2012 | 06:42pm
Market
Announcement
Monday 6 February 2012
Ceramic Fuel Cells' BlueGen produces six times more
electricity per day than solar PV during Sydney "Smart
Home's" first year
Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited (AIM / ASX: CFU) - a leading
developer of high efficiency and low emission electricity
generation products for homes and other buildings - today
announced that its BlueGen gas-to- electricity unit had
created nearly twice as much electricity than Sydney's
Newington "Smart Home" had needed during the home's first 18
months of operation.
Ausgrid's energy efficiency expert Paul Myors said an
analysis of energy use and generation at the smart home
showed it was producing enough electricity to power two
average households.
"The fuel cell used gas and waste heat to produce most of the
on-site power, but with 65 per cent less greenhouse gas
impact than power sourced from the grid," he said.
The 1.5 kilowatt BlueGen unit - combined with a conventional
1 kilowatt rooftop solar system and a 0.5 kilowatt solar
pergola system - produced an average 32 kilowatt hours of
electricity per day. Of this, the BlueGen unit produced an
average of 28 kilowatt hours per day, while the average solar
output was 4 kilowatt hours per day.
Importantly, the BlueGen unit saved 6,950 kilograms of carbon
dioxide during the year from November 2010 to October 2011
when compared to greenhouse emissions from electricity from
the NSW grid.
This was nearly five times the carbon emission savings from
the Smart Home's solar PV unit, which saved
1,470 kilograms of carbon dioxide.
The family charged the home's car - a new Mitsubishi i-MiEV
electric vehicle - an average of eight times per month and
drove it for more than 5,000 kilometres on Sydney's roads.
The electric car added an average 2.5 kilowatt hours a day to
the home's electricity use. Ausgrid found the electric car
would have been about 75 per cent cheaper that a comparable
petrol car to run. This is because it was only charged after
8pm when times of use electricity rates are cheaper.
"The Smart Home in essence has become a fully functioning
power station," Mr Myors said. "This has been a great
experiment to test how families use new technology and
efficient appliances, so we can see what will help households
use energy and water efficiently in the future."
Following the first BlueGen installed in the Smart Home, last
year Ausgrid ordered 25 BlueGen units as part of the AUD 100m
'Smart Grid, Smart City' project. These 25 BlueGens are now
installed and operating in homes in Newcastle, New South
Wales.
The first Smart Home family - Clare Joyce, Michael Adams and
their daughter Ava, dubbed "The Jetsons' - left the Smart
Home at the end of January after an 18-month trial of energy
efficient living. A new search has begun for a new family to
live rent-free for 12 months in the experimental home. (see
www.ausgrid.com.au)
Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited
ABN : 055 736 671
Website :
www.cfcl.com.au
ENDS
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For more information please contact:
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Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited
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Andrew Neilson
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Tel.
Email
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: +61 (0) 3 9554 2300
: investor@cfcl.com.au
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Australian media enquiries
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Richard Allen
Oxygen Financial Public Relations
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Tel.
Email
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: +61 (0) 3 9915 6341
: richard@oxygenpr.com.au
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UK media enquiries
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Mark Way
MW Research PR
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Tel.
Email
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: +44 (0) 7786 116 991
: mark.w@harvardamerica.com
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German media enquiries
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Alex Seiler
Hering Schuppener Consulting
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Tel.
Email
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: +49 (0) 69 9218 7454
: aseiler@heringschuppener.com
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About Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited:
Ceramic Fuel Cells is a world leader in developing fuel cell
technology to generate highly efficient and low-emission
electricity from widely available natural gas. Ceramic Fuel
Cells has sold its BlueGen gas-to-electricity generator to
major utilities and other foundation customers in Germany,
the United Kingdom, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Italy,
Japan, Australia, and the USA. Ceramic Fuel Cells is also
developing fully integrated power and heating products with
leading energy companies E.ON UK in the United Kingdom, GdF
Suez in France and EWE in Germany.
The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange AIM market
and the Australian Securities Exchange (code CFU). www.cfcl.com.au
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