The Bloom Box is Coming!
Dis anyone see 60-Minutes report on the Bloom Box...a fuel cell powered by natural gas?
jhh
(CBS) For the past year and a half, several large California corporations have been secretly testing the "Bloom Box," a potentially revolutionary fuel-cell system. Confirming this for the first time, several of the companies report this system is a more efficient, clean, and cost effective way to get electricity than off the power grid.
Lesley Stahl and "60 Minutes" cameras get the first look inside the secretive California company, just days before the Bloom Energy official launch, scheduled for next Wednesday (Feb. 24).
Stahl's report will be broadcast this Sunday, Feb. 21, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
John Donahoe, CEO of E-bay, confirms Bloom Boxes were installed at his corporate campus nine months ago. The company says the boxes already saved them over $100,000 in electricity bills. "It's been very successful thus far. [The Bloom Boxes] have done what they said they would do," says Donahoe. The five boxes are able to produce five times as much electricity as the 3,248 solar panels that E-bay installed on its campus roofs, says the CEO. "The footprint for Bloom is much more efficient," he tells Stahl.
Google, FedEx, Staples and Walmart are among the first 20 clients Bloom is confirming.
Stahl is the first journalist to be allowed into the Bloom Energy lab and factory where currently one box a day is built. The boxes create electricity by a chemical process that utilizes oxygen and fuel, but involves no combustion. Bloom's founder and CEO, K.R. Sridhar, insists all the materials in the box are cheap and available in abundance. Bloom says each large box - which can power about 100 homes - currently sells for $700-800,000. They hope within five to 10 years to roll out a smaller home version for about $3,000 a unit.
Bloom Energy was the first clean energy start-up Kleiner-Perkins, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm, invested in. They currently invest in about 50 clean tech companies. Sridhar confirms the company has received over $400 million, making it one of the most expensive startups in history.
John Doerr, the Kleiner Perkins partner who invested in Bloom, has high hopes. "The Bloom Box is intended to replace the [electric power] grid for its customer," says Doerr. He thinks existing utility companies should not be threatened or have a problem with Bloom Energy. "The utility companies will see this as a solution.All they need to do is buy Bloom Boxes, put them in the substation for the neighborhood and sell that electricity," he says.
But there is another hurdle says Michael Kanellos, editor-in-chief of the Web site GreenTech Media. Even if Sridhar can mass produce his boxes and sell them cheaply enough, "The problem is then G.E. and Siemens and other conglomerates that can probably do the same thing. They have fuel cell patents," he tells Stahl.
he Bloom Box: An Energy Breakthrough?
60 Minutes: First Customers Says Energy Machine Works And Saves Money
Bloom Energy's K.R. Sridhar, holding up fuel cells that are key components of the so-called "Bloom box." (CBS)
INTERACTIVEEnergy Ed.A look at our sources of energy and how we use them to live and work.
Lesley Stahl and "60 Minutes" cameras get the first look inside the secretive California company, just days before the Bloom Energy official launch, scheduled for next Wednesday (Feb. 24).
Stahl's report will be broadcast this Sunday, Feb. 21, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
John Donahoe, CEO of E-bay, confirms Bloom Boxes were installed at his corporate campus nine months ago. The company says the boxes already saved them over $100,000 in electricity bills. "It's been very successful thus far. [The Bloom Boxes] have done what they said they would do," says Donahoe. The five boxes are able to produce five times as much electricity as the 3,248 solar panels that E-bay installed on its campus roofs, says the CEO. "The footprint for Bloom is much more efficient," he tells Stahl.
Google, FedEx, Staples and Walmart are among the first 20 clients Bloom is confirming.
Stahl is the first journalist to be allowed into the Bloom Energy lab and factory where currently one box a day is built. The boxes create electricity by a chemical process that utilizes oxygen and fuel, but involves no combustion. Bloom's founder and CEO, K.R. Sridhar, insists all the materials in the box are cheap and available in abundance. Bloom says each large box - which can power about 100 homes - currently sells for $700-800,000. They hope within five to 10 years to roll out a smaller home version for about $3,000 a unit.
Bloom Energy was the first clean energy start-up Kleiner-Perkins, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm, invested in. They currently invest in about 50 clean tech companies. Sridhar confirms the company has received over $400 million, making it one of the most expensive startups in history.
John Doerr, the Kleiner Perkins partner who invested in Bloom, has high hopes. "The Bloom Box is intended to replace the [electric power] grid for its customer," says Doerr. He thinks existing utility companies should not be threatened or have a problem with Bloom Energy. "The utility companies will see this as a solution.All they need to do is buy Bloom Boxes, put them in the substation for the neighborhood and sell that electricity," he says.
But there is another hurdle says Michael Kanellos, editor-in-chief of the Web site GreenTech Media. Even if Sridhar can mass produce his boxes and sell them cheaply enough, "The problem is then G.E. and Siemens and other conglomerates that can probably do the same thing. They have fuel cell patents," he tells Stahl.
Views: 327
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by UPITT on
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Skip - I meant to reply to LP and JHH about their thoughts that this device will take away coal. I come obviously from Pennsylvania and coal is a huge business. Now with the Marcellus, the Nat Gas biz is taking off. By the way we have 26 acres to lease in heart of that shale should you have an interest. Not sure you work that market. Anyway, coal is a great fuel and along wiht Nat Gas will be long term winners. Solar, Wind and biomass are a joke. Nuclear has a chance but who wants another 3 mile Island? In other news, Cubic has been doing better. The JV's with GDP and XCO have been a success. Thoughts on this if you get some down time?
http://www.cubicenergyinc.com/QBC%20Corporate%20Presentation%200218...
Thanks Skip!
Upitt -
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Permalink Reply by LP on
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Upitt,
I agree coal is here to stay but it needs to stay where it is...in the earth. Unless there is no other source of energy, in spite of the "influence" of the coal industry, eventually King Coal will be dethroned, whether it's by new technology or bottom line.
Coal Increases Rates of Disease
According to the American Lung Association, 24,000 people a year die prematurely because of pollution from coal-fired power plants. And every year 38,000 heart attacks, 12,000 hospital admissions and an additional 550,000 asthma attacks result from power plant pollution.
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Coal Kills Jobs
Despite coal industry claims that coal mining creates lots of jobs, the truth is that coal mining employment has been declining for decades, due to increased use of machinery instead of manpower.
In West Virginia alone, coal mining employment has plummeted from 126,000 miners in 1948 (who produced 168 million tons of coal), to just 15,000 miners employed in 2005 (who, with the help of machinery, produced 128 million tons of coal).
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Burning "Clean" Coal Emits Mercury
Coal-fired power plants are the largest source of human-generated mercury pollution in the U.S. Mercury emissions from electrical generation continues to rise.
Mercury in mothers' blood and breast milk can interfere with the development of babies' brains and neurological systems and can lead to learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder, problems with coordination, lowered IQ and even mental retardation.
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Coal is Fuel for Global Warming
The U.S. produces about 25 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels.
Burning coal contributes 40 percent of U.S. CO2 emissions. Coal is the most carbon intensive fossil fuel. According to the United Nations Environment Program, coal emits around 1.7 times as much carbon per unit of energy when burned as does natural gas and 1.25 times as much as oil.
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"Clean" Coal Kills Miners
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that 12,000 coal miners died from black lung disease between 1992 and 2002.
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"Clean" Coal Wastes Huge Quantities of Water
Coal mining requires an estimated 70 to 260 million gallons of water every day.
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"Clean" Coal Pollutes Seafood and Freshwater Fish49 U.S. states have issued fish consumption advisories due to high mercury concentrations in freshwater bodies throughout the country.
Coal-fired power plants are the largest source of human-generated mercury pollution in the U.S.
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"Clean" Coal Destroys Mountains
Instead of traditional mining, many coal companies now use mountaintop removal to extract coal.
Coal companies are increasingly using this method because it allows for almost complete recovery of coal seams while reducing the number of workers required to a fraction of what conventional methods require.
Mountaintop removal involves clear cutting native hardwood forests, using dynamite to blast away as much as 800-1000 feet of mountaintop, and then dumping the waste into nearby valleys, often burying streams.
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"Clean" Coal Kills Freshwater Streams
More than 1,200 miles of Appalachian streams have been buried or damaged by mountaintop removal mining. At least 724 miles of streams were completely buried by valley fills from Appalachian mountaintop removal between 1985 and 2001.
400,000 acres of rich and diverse temperate forests have been destroyed during the same time period as a result of mountaintop mining in Appalachia.
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"Clean" Coal Costs Billions in Taxpayer Subsidies
The U.S. government continues to aggressively fund coal-related projects despite all that is known about coal’s impacts on health, climate and the economy. -
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Permalink Reply by L D H on
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Wow! I would buy a Bloom Box today, if I could. I am so tired of our electricity going out every time it snows. The fact that it uses natural gas is just an extra bonus. Be sure and watch the video. This is BIG!
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Permalink Reply by JHH on
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There's a link near the top of this discussion that will take you to the video version of the story. enjoy. jhh
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Permalink Reply by Bacon on
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"The "box" generates its power wirelessly through a combination of oxygen and a fossil fuel - natural gas, bio-gas, etc. It is presently being tested by companies such as Google, WalMart, FedEx and eBay, who have shelled out hundreds of thousands for the "green" machines, the CBS News program reported."
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/tech_guide/2010/02/22/2010-02-22_bloom_e...
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Permalink Reply by JHH on
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I suppose everyone who watched the news program noticed a main component is sand! We have deserts here... but where's the world's largest? North Africa... and in the countries that have a lot of oil. Just thinkin. jhh
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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on -
Dang, ALongview. There you go out sourcing our sand. LOL! I don't think sand is covered under NAFTA.
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Permalink Reply by Anita Goodson on
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The brain made the statement on the video that it was ocean beach sand, composition must be different
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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on
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Double Dang, Anita!
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Permalink Reply by ALongview on
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Then I see this as a way out for California! I love those two birds with one stone things.
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