Germany Invests in Hydrogen Technology for Renewable Storage, Vehicles

By Miriam Widman

The tanks look like they could hold propane, gasoline or any other form of conventional energy.

But the storage tanks in Prenzlau, some 70 miles north of Berlin, hold energy produced from wind. A hybrid power plant sponsored by four large companies is being tested there to see if the plant’s wind-hydrogen-biogas technology will work.

The system takes wind energy and turns it into hydrogen, which allows it to be stored. First electricity is produced in three wind turbines, which is then used to produce C02-free hydrogen. This so-called “green” hydrogen can be stored and mixed with biogas in a combined heat and power plant, to be used as needed in times of higher demand.

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Rwanda’s Poo-Powered Prisons Are 75% Fueled by Burning Inmates’ Waste

Rwanda’s jails are reducing their energy bills this year by turning inmates’ waste into energy. That’s right, poo power is back, and now 75 percent of the prisons’ energy is fueled by a mixture of human and animal sewage in an effort to make the country’s 14 prisons more sustainable. Biogas burners have been installed, and they are run by the facilities’ constant source of waste matter.

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Hybrid Energy Storage Device Is as Small as It Can Possibly Get

NTT America soon will be able to claim a data center that runs on biogas. The Japanese telecommunications company today said it will install five Bloom Energy fuel cells in its California data center that will use biogas as a fuel. It’s a sign of the growing interest in cleaner fuel cell technology, which proponents say will increasingly be adapted for residential customers.

The fuel cells will be able to generate 500 kilowatts of power, which is enough for about 500 U.S. homes. At the data center, they will generate 4.2 million kilowatt-hours per year and reduce NTT America’s carbon dioxide emissions by 1.6 million pounds.

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