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The house is currently in the design and fund raising stage. We are working with TLC Engineering on the design of the house to achieve the Platinum level of accreditation. This level of accreditation is only held by 15 other buildings in the world. None of these buildings are under the most current version of the requirements. FSU and SESEC would like to be the first to achieve this achievement in Florida, setting the standard for FSU and bringing exposure to our area in the fields of engineering and environmentally friendly development. Not only are we showing a consciousness in this field but we are striving to be the best. We are in a hold due to funding at the moment but SESEC along with FSU Foundation and key influential people in our community are working to rectify this problem. Stay tuned for further updates.
The solar-thermal tri-generation system is designed to address the high-energy costs associated with power production, refrigeration, and heating in lesser developed areas or emergency situations. Our system at SESEC is currently in the testing process for power generation, refrigeration, and water heating; it consists of a concentrating solar concentrator and a thermal receiver. The solar concentrator is of the parabolic dish type, which is covered with a reflective aluminized mylar. This focuses the sun’s rays onto the receiver mounted at the focal point of the concentrator. The extreme temperatures created at the focal region, in excess of 650C, is then transferred by the receiver to heat a circulating fluid, which is then transported elsewhere for various thermal uses. For power production, the working fluid is water, which is flashed to steam. This high-temperature, high-pressure steam is then expanded through a small high-speed turbine coupled with a generator for electric power production. The exhaust steam is then condensed before reentering the system so as to minimize working fluid losses and increase system efficiency by preheating the working fluid. For refrigeration and water heating, an ethylene-glycol mixture is used. The ethylene-glycol mixture is used as a thermal transport medium to transfer the heat from the receiver to a thermal reservoir. For refrigeration, the thermal reservoir is used in conjunction with an anhydrous-ammonia refrigeration cycle. This cycle is similar to the conventional refrigeration cycle, however, instead of the refrigerant being compressed by the work of a shaft from an electric compressor, it is pressure driven by the addition of heat, thus making off-grid refrigeration plausible. For water heating, a heat exchanger is used in the thermal storage reservoir. Instead of water being heated by an electric heating element, the heat will be transferred from the thermal reservoir to the water. Ideally, all three components for the system will be able to operate simultaneously for tri-generation in areas where off-grid availability is essential.
A significant hurdle to the implementation of a hydrogen-based economy is the fact that hydrogen cannot be made at an economically feasible price. It is widely speculated that water electrolysis, which separates water into its component elements of hydrogen and oxygen, will be the means of generating hydrogen in this type of economy. Water electrolysis systems (electrolyzers) currently employ either platinum or nickel-based alloy electrodes, which can account for up to 80% of the cost of a commercial electrolyzer. Based on an analysis of the Photosystem II process, which is widely observed in nature, thin metal oxide films have been developed in the laboratory at FSU for the purpose of improving water electrolysis. These films have demonstrated the ability to generate both hydrogen and oxygen near their thermodynamic limits, thus allowing for efficiencies above 99%.
PEM fuel cells have the benefits of quick start-up and relatively low temperature operation, which make them the most likely candidates for use in automobile and home applications. In order for these fuel cells to achieve widespread adoption a number of engineering challenges must be overcome. Two of these challenges, the even distribution of hydrogen and air across the membrane and the need for active cooling of the fuel cell, are being addressed by the PEM fuel cell research at SESEC. A prototype of a novel fuel cell design has been built and preliminary testing has yielded promising results.
In conjunction with the electrolysis development, research is also ongoing into the use of non-platinum catalysts.
