The Raw Feed
Where technology and culture collide

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Solar, Hydrogen Power Grand Cayman Home

Renewable Energy International (REI) is pimping a crib in Grand Cayman with the ability to generate and store its OWN ELECTRICAL POWER. The house's $200,000 "renewable energy system provides complete energy production, indefinite storage, and delivery with no emissions or carbon footprint whatsoever. Unlike most hydrogen fuel cell systems, this one is powered only by solar energy, making it the cleanest hydrogen generation system in the world." All conventional electricity in the Caymen Islands is generated by burning imported oil.

Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

For a fun experiment take $200,000 and divide by your average monthly electric bill - that's how long the system will take to pay for itself (assuming nothing breaks or needs maintenance - solar cells typically have a useful lifespan of 20 years). "No carbon footprint" is interesting, I guess the massive amounts of energy used to build the system don't count. :)

On the plus side people willing to overpay for these systems now are really investing in the market for them and the next generation will be that much better because of it.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007 5:49:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just like a brand new CD player in 1984 which used to cost hundreds of dollars, and now they are below 40 bucks, hopefully as more people turn to solar energy the prices will come down and the technology will get better. I am still waiting for BlueRay DVD players/recorders to come down from 700 bucks to about 75!

Wednesday, June 20, 2007 6:50:00 AM  
Blogger Mike said...

The owners of this house chickened out and stayed on the "grid," but I'm intrigued with the idea of getting off the grid.

Think of it this way: You can buy a piece of junk 1972 track house in California for $700,000 -- or you can buy an incredible mansion on the beach off the grid in some third world country for $500,000, and power it with a $200,000 system like the one described. You get Internet and TV via satellite.

It's one of those "things that make you go hmmmmm."

Mike

Wednesday, June 20, 2007 7:34:00 AM  
Blogger Mike said...

The owners of this house chickened out and stayed on the "grid,"

actually the case of staying on the grid in this instance is to decrease sytem payback by selling power back to the grid as this installation is designed to produce morte than is consumes....check out the press release on the renewable energy website.

Thursday, May 08, 2008 4:04:00 AM  

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