Going Green Hero
Friday, April 25th, 2008The average American home emits about 23,000 lbs of CO2 and spends over $1500
in utility bills yearly.
One man has a house that emits no CO2 and has not utility bills. It is the first
solar hydrogen fuel cell house in North America. Hydrogen is non-toxic,
non-polluting, and is less flammable than gasoline. Hydrogen has three times as much
energy as natural gas. With 10 storage tanks, which holds 19,000 cubic feet of
hydrogen, enough energy along with the solar and geo-thermal to power his house, his
cooking gas, heat gas and powers his vehicle for an entire year.
Mike makes all the hydrogen himself from ordinary tap water. A process in which an
electrolyzer takes water, runs it through a de-ionizing process and through reverse
osmosis feeds the chemically pure water into the electrolyzer, then a device splits
it off between hydrogen and oxygen. This process known as electrolysis uses
electricity to separate hydrogen and oxygen atoms from water molecules. The
electricity used for this process is created by solar power, of course.
He has enough solar panels to provide about 1,000 kw per month. The extra electricity
is converted into hydrogen in an endless green cycle.
He even built his own hydrogen fuel cell car that runs on the same hydrogen he
generates for the house. I want to call him “Mr.Greenjeans!”
This is what I call a going green hero!
You can catch Mike’s house on the Science Channel’s program called Eco-Tech and will
air Jun 03, 8:00 pm.












