Use of heat generated by fuel cells to melt snow and for heating
- To promote the spread of fuel cells in cold regions -

Since September 2006, Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; President: Akihiko Tembo) has been conducting joint research in collaboration with the Aomori Industrial Research Center (AIRC; Aomori-shi, Aomori prefecture; Director: Shuichi Ohara) into a system that makes use of heat generated by fuel cells to melt snow and to provide heating. The system was put into demonstration operation at the research center in February of this year.
Idemitsu Kosan and AIRC will strive to establish an optimum control system for this heating method, and to popularize fuel cells in cold regions.

Fuel cells supply both electricity and heat. While of the two, heat is principally used for water heating, in the majority of cases where fuel cells are installed in homes, the amount of heat generated exceeds that needed to heat water. This results in unused heat and failure to make full use of the overall benefits of fuel cells.

For these reasons, Idemitsu Kosan considers that the following two points constitute major factors essential to the spread of fuel cells:

1. To enhance the benefits of introducing fuel cells (economic efficiency, reduction of CO₂ emissions), it is essential to make effective use of generated heat.
2. Since demands for heat in cold regions for use in melting snow and for heating exceed demands for water heating, it is necessary to devise a method of usage to meet these demands.

Taking the above concepts as a starting point, Idemitsu Kosan began joint research with the Aomori Industrial Research Center into a system that could be effectively used for the three applications of water heating, melting snow and heating in September 2006.

It was decided to conduct demonstration operation of the system as follows:

1. The fuel cell system would be connected to heat circuits for floor-heating panels and snow-melting panels installed outside.
2. The melting effect of the heat circuits will be compared by changing the heating pattern while melting real snow.

The results of the above tests will be used to build the most effective control system possible.

The task of clearing snow in cold regions places a considerable economic and physical burden on the individual and while this has led to the popularization of snow-melting devices in an effort to lighten this burden, the installation and running costs for kerosene boilers used to melt snow with warm water amounts to approximately 50,000 yen a year (based on a heater with a footprint equivalent to the space required for 2 cars, a kerosene price of 80 yen/liter and 500 hours running time per year). Idemitsu Kosan believes that effective use of the heat generated by fuel cells will not only enhance the economic appeal of fuel cells, but also lighten the burden of clearing snow and spur the spread of fuel cells in cold regions.

Image of the effective use of heat