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)
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: 328
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by North LA on
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It may decrease the amount on a case to case basis but you have to consider market share. If you take 1,000 consumers on a grid supplied by a nat gas power plant and switch them all to a bloom box then yes it will probably decrease the amount of natural gas used. On the other hand, if you introduce new markets that had previously been powered by coal then you've gained. Another thing to consider is if this is as good as advertised you WILL see these in cars and that would be a huge market for natural gas.
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Permalink Reply by DJG on
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There was a segment in the 60 minutes feature that mentioned that the efficiency of the industrial Bloom Boxes hooked up to Google, Fed Ex, eBay etc was using 50% LESS ng than if those companies were hooked up to the Grid.
So, if comparing only those electrical utilities that are already using NG to generate their power then, it would look like it would actually have less NG utilized.
When you consider, however, that we are currently looking at what 60%? 70% of our electrical utilities using coal to generate electricity then this becomes pretty darn interesting.
If the technologies do exist, or are in the coming for these to actually be available and economically viable for residential on-site electrical generation - as quoted by the CEO in the 60 Minutes interview - in the next 5 to 10 years, well then this could end up with the potential of being a game changer.
What is the reality in the current ecomomic/political/social environment that those traditional coal burning power plants would convert over to NG in that same 5 to 10 years - likely 0%.
This device would seem, however, to have the potential to allow the consumer to make an independant decision at ending dependance upon those same coal generated power plants.
Plenty more to be scrutinized regarding this device and company but , NG usage questions aside, it seems like it could be a pretty interesting potential game changer if this can indeed be economically viable to bring to the residential/consumer level.
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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on -
Good analysis. If the BB technology is scalable, we will not need a national energy policy favorable to nat gas. Consumers transferring their energy consumption to BB from grid electricity generated with coal would do the trick. If our elected officials can not or will not embrace the responsible energy strategy, consumers could vote with their feet, so to speak. Gives a whole new meaning to "living off the grid"!
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Permalink Reply by DJG on
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So the other intersting thing to consider is what potential impact this has on the transportation sector.
If these devices do become economical in the not to distant future for off-grid consumer/residential electricity generation than it would have a huge impact with respect to viabilty of electric vehicles.
The biggest problem currently is that if you are driving an electric powered vehicle today, in reality, you are driving a coal powered vehicle as the electricity needed primarily comes from traditional coal-fueled power utilities.
If, however, you are cooking your own electricity at home by installing one of these BB devices - well, you are then (depending upon the fuel used to feed the BB) most likely going to be driving an NG powered vehicle.
Removes the need for waiting for construction of (our currently non-existant) NG fueling station infrastructure.
Plug the dang car into a socket in your garage and charge it up.
This could end up being damn good news for our country and the world in general and - especially good news for those with a stake in NG.
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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on
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And it mitigates the need to make huge investments in the grid itself.
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Permalink Reply by JHH on
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I could be mistaken... but i didn't see coal as a fuel for the Bloom Box. jhh
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Permalink Reply by Willbilly on
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In addition to the cost associated with constructing and maintaining a power grid, there are pretty significant losses in the distribution of electricity. The heat from transformers and transmission lines is energy lost. The only loss I can think of in natural gas distribution would be the energy used by compressor stations, and leakage.
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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on
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Good points, Willbilly.
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Permalink Reply by UPITT on
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That's the funniest post I ever read. Coal is here to stay chief. Go buy the bloom box at CVS next to the other infomercial garbage. COAL = 50% of US electricity and employs directly and indirectly 1.5 M people. Gas is going to continue taking away that market share but King Coal has the government wrapped around it's finger. Why do you think Obama is so anti-Nat Gas?
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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on
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UPITT. You make a good point with one exception. It is not Obama that is in the pocket of King Coal. It is a number of influential Senators and Representatives of both parties. Obama is not anti-gas, he is just aware of the political realities involving those in Congress who have a stake in this issue and the compromises required to pass a bill. Obama is a realist. He seeks a consensus that, IMO, is not attainable. It's not a question of Republican or Democrat. It's not conservative or liberal. It's a decision between consumers (average Americans) and corporate interests. Until American voters understand the difference, we will continue to go around and around and get no where.
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