6 Japan Firms to Sell Home-Use Fuel Cell System

Wednesday, January 28, 2009 4:53 PM

(Source: Jiji Press English News Service) tracking

Tokyo, Jan. 28 (Jiji Press)--Tokyo Gas Co. and five other Japanese firms said Wednesday they will launch the Ene Farm brand home-use fuel cell system from May 1.

With the new product, the six firms will jointly vie with power suppliers running campaigns to replace gas cookers and water heaters with electricity-powered systems.

The six companies aim to sell a total of 5,000 units of the Ene Farm system in the first year.

The system generates power through chemical reactions between hydrogen from the gas and oxygen in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide emissions from the system are estimated to be 45 pct less than those from existing water heaters, according to the six firms.

The five companies other than Tokyo Gas are Osaka Gas Co. , Nippon Oil Corp. , Toho Gas Co. , Saibu Gas Co. and Astomos Energy Corp., a joint venture between Idemitsu Kosan Co. and Mitsubishi Corp. .

The presidents of all six firms attended the day's joint news conference to announce the release of the fuel cell system. Tokyo Gas President Mitsunori Torihara said fuel cells will be a key took to help households cut greenhouse gas emissions.

A major obstacle to the dissemination of the Ene Farm system may be its prices, which start at 3.2 million yen. Households will need to pay at least 1.8 million yen even if government subsidies of up to 1.4 million yen per unit are taken into account.

This compares with 500,000 to 700,000 yen for Eco Cute electricity-powered water heaters sold by power suppliers. So far, cumulative Eco Cute sales have reached 1.6 million units.END

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.


1/29/2009 1:10:09 PM Commendable achievement by duncan Those 6 companies above have adopted low temperature PEM fuel cells. I shall watch with interest to see if they adopt high temperature PEM fuel cells and SOFC systems in the near future? Some would argue there are advantages from doing so. There are some international companies looking for Japanese partners to develop these products. They can be found on the “Fuel Cell Markets” web site in the “Opportunities Directory”. I hope this helps. I have also found it interesting to watch the development and now apparently the deployment of fuel cell systems around the world and the effect that government commitment has had. The UK government decided to sit on the fence and not commit resources or legislation to assist the adoption of fuel cell systems. Subsequently many of the leading UK companies have taken advantage of relocating to manufacture and create jobs. For example CFCL and Rolls Royce. Japan however appears to have recognised the impact that energy efficiency would have on its import of foreign fuels, as well as the global need to be efficient in power production. Thus it invested in its own economy and amended the legislation where appropriate. Subsequently Japans industry is leading the world and deploying systems and creating jobs. Historically JApans focus has lead to its industry not having such an international focus, i hope now things will change and the world can benefit from the advances it has made. I would imagine the boiler developers of the EU and Americas are watching with interest. Reply Rating: (3) (1)

Those 6 companies above have adopted low temperature PEM fuel cells. I shall watch with interest to see if they adopt high temperature PEM fuel cells and SOFC systems in the near future? Some would argue there are advantages from doing so. There are some international companies looking for Japanese partners to develop these products. They can be found on the “Fuel Cell Markets” web site in the “Opportunities Directory”. I hope this helps.

I have also found it interesting to watch the development and now apparently the deployment of fuel cell systems around the world and the effect that government commitment has had.

The UK government decided to sit on the fence and not commit resources or legislation to assist the adoption of fuel cell systems. Subsequently many of the leading UK companies have taken advantage of relocating to manufacture and create jobs. For example CFCL and Rolls Royce.

Japan however appears to have recognised the impact that energy efficiency would have on its import of foreign fuels, as well as the global need to be efficient in power production. Thus it invested in its own economy and amended the legislation where appropriate. Subsequently Japans industry is leading the world and deploying systems and creating jobs.

Historically JApans focus has lead to its industry not having such an international focus, i hope now things will change and the world can benefit from the advances it has made. I would imagine the boiler developers of the EU and Americas are watching with interest.

Rating: (3) (1)

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