Fuel cell boiler

Electricity bills could be slashed by up to 40 per cent thanks to a new home generator, the size of a CD box. The mini domestic power station replaces the pilot light in an everyday boiler and can generate heat and electricity at a fraction of the cost of normal power. The super-green device will also more than double energy savings, its British developer, Ceres Power, claims. The generator can do all this mainly by using cheaper materials at more efficient temperatures. Instead of components put together with expensive platinum, the cells are made largely from stainless steel and ceramics, using fairly standard low-cost manufacturing techniques. Fuel and air create a chemical reaction at an optimum temperature of 550C, generating enough electricity in the average home to make power stations obsolete, the company claims. Although natural gas and oil can be used to power the cells, other fuels, including hydrogen, can be used, producing water rather than carbon dioxide as a by-product.

Source: cerespower.comAdded: 27 March 2007