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.
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Bloom Energy's K.R. Sridhar, holding up fuel cells that are key components of the so-called "Bloom box." (CBS)
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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: 328
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on -
JHH. I watched 60 Minutes but missed the Bloom Box - nat gas connection. I was cooking dinner so I could have missed it. How is the fuel cell powered by nat gas. I see no mention in the article.
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Permalink Reply by JHH on
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I couldn't figure it out either. But several large corporations are testing the system... eBay... Wal Mart and others. Says methane gas from land fills can be used as well... including hydrogen. there's a web page for bloom energy... with a countdown clock ticking away for the big announcement. i think it's bloomenergy.com i'm sure you can also go to the 60 minutes web page and view the piece... now that it has been aired.
jhh
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Permalink Reply by JHH on
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Here's the link.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/1998/07/08/60minutes/main13502.shtml
scroll down to the story.
jhh
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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on
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Thanks. Found it.
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Permalink Reply by JHH on
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Yeah... it would be kind of hard to shove lignite through a pipe and into one of those fuel cells. jhh
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Permalink Reply by North LA on
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Wow! IF this is as good as advertised it would make energy dirt cheap. Oh and natural gas use will increase tremendously. Sign me up:)
I wonder if they could run cars using these cells along with natural gas? V-vehicle? Kleiner Perkins????
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Permalink Reply by UPITT on
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I highly doubt that. 50% of US electricity is coming from coal. This fad box will fade away just like the windfarms and solar is currently. Coal and Nat Gas is all we need.
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Permalink Reply by sesport on
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UPITT - Thanks for pointing that out about the 50%. It may actually be even less than that according to this table for power generation by fuel source. Still, would like to see ng have a bigger portion of the pie in terms of what it means to the local HS economy.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/table1_1.html
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Permalink Reply by Todd Blanchard on
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You must have not been to west texas that area is booming with wind farms everywhere . Some small towms have come alive and you can't find hotels at all. As far as solar it cost to much now but with what the feds and states giving tax breaks it's still moving forward as well. as far as the coal, they are the ones fighting nat gas right now so we don't even need them.
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Permalink Reply by UPITT on
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Todd, keep waiting on those Obama Windfarm Jobs. Windfarms and everything else alternative is a joke. If you want a $500 electricity bill sure get the windfarms and everything else. I'll stick to cheap coal and cheap Nat gas. The whole alternative energy fad will run out of steam. No cap and trade, prices are lower (Coal/Nat Gas) so that side of things isn't economical.
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Permalink Reply by sesport on
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Todd - If you look here, you'll see the number of generators added & retired, listed by fuel source, in 2007. The number of coal fueled plants that were retired vs. the number that were added shows a drastic reduction compared to the number of those fired by gas.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epa/epaxlfile2_6.pdf
Perhaps the coal industries, and the economies supported by them, are sweating?
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