Members of the Sustainable Energy Science and Engineering Center (SESEC) are laying the groundwork for an energy efficient home. A plot on FSU's campus will soon be a two bedroom, two office solar-powered building. While solar power provides the blueprint hydrogen is what sparked this project.
"When the sun is down we have a problem," said FAMU-FSU College of Engineering Professor Anjaneyulu Krothapalli. "So during the day times we take part of the solar generated electricity and use that to make hydrogen. We use hydrogen as a medium storage"
The professor envisions the hydrogen being used for cooking, air conditioning and hot water. Although this is a high tech experiment, researchers are building with the homeowner in mind.
"What we wanted to do is design and build a house that you could actually view as your home that would integrate all these technologies without really sacrificing a lot to the consumer, " said FSU Graduate Student and project manager Justin Kramer.
The home is complete with solar panel roofing, wrap-around porches and vaulted ceilings. The possible savings are also appealing to homeowners. Justin Kramer says the zero dollar energy bill and an environmentally-friendly home are just two of the things to feel good about living in this home. The long term goal for researchers is to make solar-powered homes affordable and accessible to everyone under the sun.