International Journal of Engineering and Technology

In the present paper, the reduction of carbon dioxide by using a Polymer Electrode membrane Fuel Cell (PEFC) power generation system for residential usage was verified. The consumption of electric and heat energy of a family introduced PEFC system in Okayama prefecture was recorded for more than one month, then the data were analyzed in comparison with the cases where only commercial electricity is used and electricity and kerosene are used in combination. Furthermore, the effect of the capacity of hot water tank and the usage of nighttime electric power was estimated. As a result, it was found that the PEFC contributed to reduce CO2 emission more than 22%, 27%and 42% for the family compared with the electricity-kerosene combined usage and the all-electric usages with and without nighttime electric power respectively. Further it has been suggested that further reduction of CO2 emission is possible by optimizing the demand balance of hot water and electricity.