In 2002, Honda developed the world's first compact household cogeneration unit with the objective of improving the quality of life. This household gas cogeneration unit utilizes compact engine technology nurtured over the years and unique sine wave inverter power generation technology to generate electricity with the gas engine and simultaneously recover waste heat, providing homes with hot water and heat. The compact household cogeneration system released in 2003,combined with hot water sold and heating unit ,has been sold under the ECOWILL brand by various gas companies and installed in a total of 110,000 homes ^*1.

Honda has continually worked to further improve efficient energy usage. Its efforts have culminated in the MCHP1.0K2 household gas engine cogeneration unit released in 2011. This unit incorporates a new engine and advancements in Honda's original generator technology, boosting power generation efficiency from 20% with the original model to 26.3% in the new model. In addition, as a result of exhaustive efforts to recover heat with the high efficiency heat recovery system, primary energy usage efficiency has been dramatically increased from 85.0% to 92.0%. This superior energy efficiency achieves outstanding economical and environmental performance. This reduces yearly heating and electricity expenses by approximately \50,000 ^*2 compared to conventional thermal power generation with hot water and heating system provided by city gas. In addition to superior economy, this compact household energy supply system reduces CO₂ emissions by 39%, minimizing the impact on the environment.

*1

Honda Calculations as of June 30, 2011

*2

Calculated by gas companies

Overseas Business Activities

In the summer of 2011, sales of the ecoPOWER 1.0 household compact cogeneration system began. This system was jointly developed with Vaillant, a company in Germany that specializes in the manufacture of boilers and heating systems.The ecoPOWER 1.0 system uses the MCHP1.0K2 as the core unit and combines it with a heating/hot water unit made by Vaillant. It generates 1kW of electricity and 2.5kW of heat, and can reduce CO₂ emissions by as much as approximately 50% ^*3 The German government is promoting the popularization of cogeneration systems based on the CHP ^*4 (cogeneration) Act that was enacted in January 2009. When customers purchase a cogeneration system, they get an exemption for tax on electricity, support in the form of power purchased by the power company, and other types of assistance. Currently, compact cogeneration systems are mainly used by small scale commercial facilities such as restaurants and hotels. It is expected that a compact system smaller than the 1kW class will be sold to ordinary households in the future.

*3

Data from Vaillant Company. Comparison with existing heating system under optimum environmental conditions in Germany.

*4

Abbreviation of Combined Heat and Power