Hydrogen Hurricane Relief

When Hurricane Irene struck the northeastern United States in August 2011, the Hydrogen House was pummeled with record winds and rainfall.  As a result, the house 's revolutionary solar-hydrogen electrical system suffered some damage.  In a freak accident, a large tree fell connecting the house's low-voltage power lines to the local utility company's high-voltage lines, blowing out the system's solar power inverters and damaging the house's fuel cell.  Ironically, had the house not still been connected to the electrical grid to sell excess electricity back to the utility company, this tragedy would have been avoided. 

Nevertheless, while damage to local power lines left neighbors without electricity for days, the Hydrogen House maintained power thanks to its stored hydrogen gas.  Mike Strizki simply connected the fuel cell from his hydrogen-powered car to his home system to keep the lights on during the blackout.  Even after an unseasonal ice storm on Halloween night left the town without power once again (this time for a full week), Mike Strizki's home still had electricity while neighbors struggled without power.

In 2012, tragedy struck again when New Jersey was pummeled by Hurricane Sandy.  While New Jersey’s electric utility companies scrambled to fix downed power lines and busted transformers, the Hydrogen House never lost power. “We had neighbors coming by during the power outage to charge their cell phones,” says Hydrogen House developer and owner Mike Strizki. “All my neighbors have gone without power for over a week and have had to wait several hours in lines at the gas stations to get fuel for their back-up generators.”

Strizki's most recent hydrogen energy device, the Joule Box,  is a portable power station that combines lightweight flexible film sun-tracking solar panels and a micro-wind turbine with onboard energy storage in the form of batteries, ultracapacitors and self-generating hydrogen to create a robust renewable energy alternative to gasoline generators. The Joule Box is ideal for off-grid energy needs, as well as for emergency power generation.  Hydrogen House Project works with Renewable Energy Holdings, LLC to design and manufacture custom off-grid hydrogen power stations.  Contact us to learn more and to inquire about how Hydrogen House Project can help you design and install your own off-grid renewable hydrogen power system!