BlueGen produces six times more electricity than solar during smart home’s first year

07 February 2012 | Technology and trends

Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited, a developer of high efficiency and low emission electricity generation products for homes and other buildings, has 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% less greenhouse gas impact than power sourced from the grid,” he says.

The 1.5kW BlueGen unit – combined with a conventional 1kW rooftop solar system and a 0.5kW solar pergola system – produced an average 32kW hours of electricity per day. Of this, the BlueGen unit produced an average of 28kW hours per day, while the average solar output was 4kW hours per day.

Importantly, the BlueGen unit saved 6,950kg 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 1,470kg 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 5,000km on Sydney’s roads. The electric car added an average 2.5kW hours a day to the home’s electricity use. Ausgrid found the electric car would have been about 75% 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 says.

“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)