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Inside ...
 The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in conjunction with Michael Ellis, professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech, is developing a draft rating methodology that will allow future consumers of residential fuel cell systems to understand such systems’ performance for residential applications. While commercially available systems are years away, NIST is testing prototypes to determine how future systems may behave at various temperatures, electrical loads, and thermal loads.
One system being tested uses natural gas to produce electricity and heat for hot water and space heating. About 5 killowatts of electricity is exported to the utility grid, and water circulating between the fuel cell system and a storage tank provides more than 7 kilowatts of heat to the residence. With a combined electrical and thermal efficiency approaching 70 percent, residential fuel cell systems more than double the typical efficiency of utility power plants.
Mark Davis leads the NIST research on residential fuel cell systems with the assistance of fellow Virginia Tech mechanical engineering graduates Hunter Fanney and Brian Dougherty.
Outside ...
 In a Department of Defense (DOD)-funded project, the Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO) tested two 5 KW proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station for a year beginning in 2004 — one at a home and one at an office building. “The goal was to accelerate the use of PEM fuel cells in a real world applciation,” says Mike Rubala, energy services supervisor at SMECO. “It was a beta line unit and we learned a lot that is being incorporated into our next pre-commodity unit.” The next generation unit is also one-third smaller.
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