Tokyo - TOYOTA MOTOR CORPORATION (TMC) announced today that it plans to provide, for the third year in a row, home-use fuel cell cogeneration units as part of a government project to verify the practical use of CO2-reducing stationary fuel cells.

The municipal-gas-fueled 1-kW home-use fuel cell cogeneration units - which generate electricity and capture waste heat for household heating - are to play a role in the continuing Large-Scale Stationary Fuel Cell Demonstration Project of Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). Twenty-four of the units will be provided to project participant Toho Gas Co., Ltd. (Toho), which will install them in homes in three central-Japan prefectures (Aichi, Gifu and Mie) to collect data toward commercialization.  The government project, which was originally scheduled to conclude on March 31, 2008, is now expected to run until the end of March 2009.

TMC's home-use fuel cell cogeneration units run on a system - jointly developed with Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd.—consisting of a stationary fuel cell and a hot water storage tank. Recent improvements, such as a modified heat-recovery circuit, have boosted heat-recovery efficiency by roughly 20% (as measured by TMC) without any loss in power-generation efficiency. The result is a marked reduction in household primary-energy consumption and CO2 emissions.

As part of its corporate social responsibility program, TMC has long positioned global environmental preservation as a top-priority management concern and is actively working to provide technological and commercial solutions to various environmental issues.  To this end, TMC intends to continue investing in the research and development needed to reduce costs and improve the overall efficiency and durability of its residential fuel cell cogeneration system.

Courtesy: Toyota Motor Corporation, Japan

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Posted by Jigar Gondalia on 12 May, 2008 3:40:50 PM IST #