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Study on energy conservation and economical condition of "PEFC Apartment House".

Article Excerpt
INTRODUCTION

The national government of Japan is diffusing polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEFC) as a means of more efficient energy use, for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preserving fossil fuels. PEFC are expected to be employed in buildings and automobiles. This study proposed PEFC-operated apartment houses as an application of PEFC to buildings and simulated their energy saving effect and reduction of carbon dioxide emissions effect. At last, in order to confirm an economical viability for this system, the relation between the price of the city gas and the profit of the energy supplier is examined. The results are described in this paper.

SYSTEM OUTLINE IN A PEFC-OPERATED APARTMENT HOUSE

The system is composed of a PEFC system (fuel cell stack, reformer, hot water storage tank and supplementary water heater) installed at each apartment and a distribution network connecting PEFC systems. Electric power is shared by apartments and waste heat is used individually by each apartment. PEFC are operated starting at an apartment with lower heat storage. When the capacity of storage is filled to the full, output from the fuel cell stack attached to the storage is discontinued. Then, the efficiency of PEFC operation will be increased; the number of PEFC will be reduced (load factor will be increased) and surplus waste heat will be reduced (more recovered waste heat will be used) through integrated control; and heat loss will be reduced as shorter heat pipes will be required.

EVALUATION OF ENERGY SAVING CAPACITY AND [CO.sub.2] REDUCTION EFFECT

The energy saving capacity of PEFC-operated apartment houses is evaluated in terms of reductions of annual primary energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.

Outline of the Building

Evaluation is made at an apartment house accommodating 30 80-[m.sup.2] apartments in Tokyo. Power, water heating, and cooling and heating loads are applied for a year (8,760 hours) in increments of one hour using the basic unit (3). Cooling and heating loads are converted to power load on the assumption of use of air conditioners with COP (coefficient of performance) of 4.9 (4). Load characteristics are assumed to be the same in all apartments.

Cases of Calculation

Calculations are made in two cases with a conventional apartment house generally available at present (Table 1) and with a PEFC-operated apartment house (Table 2). In the conventional apartment...

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