Y'all know anything about this? News to me.
http://www.ktva.com/ci_14428212?source=most_viewed (http://www.ktva.com/ci_14428212?source=most_viewed)
Seems that "the original technology comes from an oxygen generator meant for a scrapped NASA Mars program that has been converted, with the help of an estimated $400 million in private funding, into a fuel cell."
http://engadgetmirror.blogspot.com/2010/02/bloom-box-power-plant-for-home-video.html (http://engadgetmirror.blogspot.com/2010/02/bloom-box-power-plant-for-home-video.html)
Guess we'll know more on the day after tomorrow. Bloom Energy is going public with details on Wednesday.
Another link. Explains in a little bit more detail:
http://earth2tech.com/2010/02/21/the-bloom-box-what-all-the-fuss-is-about/ (http://earth2tech.com/2010/02/21/the-bloom-box-what-all-the-fuss-is-about/)
Rain Dog are you buying stock???
Hope this works out. I need a little one 8)
If all of the components are inexpensive, why do they cost so much? Must be that "special" paint.
Quote from: Whitlock on February 22, 2010, 09:25:01 AM
Rain Dog are you buying stock???
Hope this works out. I need a little one 8)
I wish. I'm in the position now of buying nothing much but sustenance. Main reason we're gettin' out of this economic cesspit we're in and runnin' back to Texas. Down, but not for long.
Anyway, it really cheers me when I run across things like this. Been counting heavily on human ingenuity and advances in technology to pull us out of the various messes man has made and/or found himself in.
Y'know, maybe the party isn't actually over. ;D
I have a box in my garage that sucks in oxygen in one port and fuel in the other and makes AC power... it can run my whole house and it only cost me $500. It is a bit noisy though.
If something is twice as efficient, then it is allowed to cost a little bit more than twice as much. These guys are set to make a bundle off of Green frenzy.
I'd like to know what the $$ per kwh is from this box, and what the emissions are. Knowing what the service life and maintenance costs might be would help too. I suspect that none of those answers are good...otherwise they would have been more forthright. Sort of like that company in Texas that was on the news that made... what was it... cold fire gas? Something like that... out of water and electricity. Problem was that it took $100 of electricity to make $10 in fuel. I applaud the innovation behind this. I chuckle when the media jumps on board and starts promoting technology when they clearly don't have a clue.
I'm hoping I'm wrong in my skepticism... I bet there were lots of folks who had similar things to say about the light bulb :D
-f-
Look to me like this company is betting they're going to get a hefty share of stimulus money to expand the technology and conduct further research into single house systems viability.
Quote from: NM_Shooter on February 22, 2010, 09:58:17 AM
I have a box in my garage that sucks in oxygen in one port and fuel in the other and makes AC power... it can run my whole house and it only cost me $500. It is a bit noisy though.
If something is twice as efficient, then it is allowed to cost a little bit more than twice as much. These guys are set to make a bundle off of Green frenzy.
I'd like to know what the $$ per kwh is from this box, and what the emissions are. Knowing what the service life and maintenance costs might be would help too. I suspect that none of those answers are good...otherwise they would have been more forthright. Sort of like that company in Texas that was on the news that made... what was it... cold fire gas? Something like that... out of water and electricity. Problem was that it took $100 of electricity to make $10 in fuel. I applaud the innovation behind this. I chuckle when the media jumps on board and starts promoting technology when they clearly don't have a clue.
I'm hoping I'm wrong in my skepticism... I bet there were lots of folks who had similar things to say about the light bulb :D
-f-
Gonna have to wait until Wednesday. Hopefully we'll know more then.
They have stated that it involves no combustion. "electricity by a chemical process that utilizes oxygen and fuel"
We'll see. I'm not bettin' the bank on anything either. Like you, I'm skeptical until I see the numbers.
60 Minutes did a segment on it last night.
It was touted as replacing the grid, but it still needs fuel like natural gas for example.
The inventor displayed a little stack of plates saying that this stack will power a US home or 2 European homes or 4 India homes.
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/09/12/1204_tech_pioneers_2010/6.htm
He claimed that they could be in millions of homes, but didn't give an example of a single home use. All of the examples were large units powering large buildings for Ebay, Fed Ex, Google, etc.
He claimed individual home use, but besides the above examples, the investor mentioned sub-station use for a whole neighborhood.
http://www.ecogeek.org/component/content/article/3079 (http://www.ecogeek.org/component/content/article/3079)
I forgot to mention that after the 60 Minutes piece aired, I googled "bloombox" and found some boxes to start "weed" in your garage. heh
It is a fuel cell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_cell). The only difference between this one and the ones used in Project Apollo 40 years ago is this one can use natural gas for fuel instead of pure hydrogen.
So it's not perfect,What is???
http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2010/0222/Bloom-Box-What-60-Minutes-left-out
Did his son get the trip to Hawaii, or did he save the money from not having to award the trip to any of his employees?
So... How'd this go?
Quote from: NM_Shooter on February 25, 2010, 09:59:19 AM
So... How'd this go?
http://www.fastcompany.com/1557348/bloombox-bloom-box-fuel-cell-60-minutes-kleiner-perkins-kr-sridhar-green-energy-google (http://www.fastcompany.com/1557348/bloombox-bloom-box-fuel-cell-60-minutes-kleiner-perkins-kr-sridhar-green-energy-google)
How much fuel does it use and how much electricity does it produce for that amount of fuel?
Fuel required @ rated power 0.661 MMBtu/hr of natural gas
Rated power output (AC) 100 kW
Electrical efficiency (LHV net AC) > 50%
http://www.bloomenergy.com/products/data-sheet/ (http://www.bloomenergy.com/products/data-sheet/)
RD,
Thanks. I was on their website and couldn't find it, must have been daydreaming or something.
Here's a pretty good update on the installations that are experimenting with the first "Bloom boxes"
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-bloom-energy25-2010feb25,0,1793658.story
The units being built now are far too big (in output) and expensive ($700-800K) for home use. Several (at a Coca Cola plant and Ebay) are running on biogas. As I understand this process the ceramic fuel cells (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_cell) in the unit can use several different types of fuel as a supplier of hydrogen. Current units are running on natural gas and biogas. However, the fuel flexibility of fuel cells is one of their exciting future potentials. How Bloom plans to use solar as a fuel source I don't know??? (electrolysis???)
The potential applications for fuel cells is huge, the potential for scams is also high. Here is a photo of a prototype residential fuel cell device that I posted to the forum in 2001. As far as I know this is as far as the project ever got.
(http://countryplans.com/fuel_cell.jpg)
Here's another article today: http://www.businessweek.com/idg/2010-02-24/bloom-fuel-cell-individual-power-plant-in-a-box.html
News that Google has been using four of the bix boxes at its Mountain View headquarters for the past 18 months. With a track record like that prior to any public announcement probably means this is not being put out just to snag VC dollars.
When are they releasing the wood fired version? ;D
Yet another new article with more detail on how this product works:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-10460151-64.html
Here's a comparison between Bloom fuel cells and Solar: http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/bloom-vs.-solar-which-one-is-best/
Bloom Boxes have lots of competition
http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/2010/02/24/bloom-boxes-have-lots-of-competition/ (http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/2010/02/24/bloom-boxes-have-lots-of-competition/)