Eco Factor: Renewable energy generating architecture produces hydrogen for electricity.
Students at the University of Waterloo have won this year’s Hydrogen Student Design Award hosted by Hydrogen Education Foundation with a building concept that could revolutionize the way buildings consume energy. The Mark Estill Student Life Center, as the architecture has been named, has been designed for the State University of New York – Farmingdale Campus, with a theoretical budget of $28 million.
The building is a host to various renewable energy generating systems that collectively generate enough power to run an electrolyzer that generates hydrogen from water. This hydrogen is then stored in large tanks, which then powers fuel-cells for electricity. The design makes use of roof-mounted photovoltaic panels, wind turbines and biomass to generate electricity for the electrolyzer to work.
Apart from powering the entire campus with a dependable form of renewable energy, hydrogen is also used to fuel a fuel-cell powered campus vehicle. The students want the campus to be heated using the abundant geothermal energy.
The Dark Side:
The campus does make use of renewable energy in a more dependable form. However, storing all that hydrogen from the electrolyzer seems a risky process. Another concern that might need a bit of planning is the proposed use of geothermal energy for heating the campus, as it might drive the cost of the campus well above the budget.
Via: TDB
