Bloom Box

Other than what I saw recently on "60 Minutes" I know very little about this technology....but, it seems to have some promise since some fairly big names have been using this concept for several months now. I know that fuel cells are nothing new but have we finally come across something that may actually be affordable and sustainable?

edit:...never mind...I see there is already a thread started...sorry!

It looks like a game changer non- the less...........

At this point I don't think it's all that significant... Yes as a "Proof of Concept" it is interesting, but until / unless they can get the cost per delivered KWh down by about a factor of 10, it isn't going to be "game changing".... There have been lots of other "great new technologies" of different sorts introduced over the years that were supposed to be major change points, but most never went anywhere because they weren't able to get the production costs down to a reasonable level.

Gooserider

Im waiting for the inventor to mysteriously disappear by the end of 2010.

It uses natural gas instead of hydrogen. The fuel cell itself is made from cheap materials like sand. Ebay and Google are currently using them. The gas to electricity conversion is twice as efficient as a modern electricity generating gas plant, i think.

Tons of venture capital money already invested will make it quite a few years before the cost will come down.

Just saw an updated 60 minutes on the Bloom box. Its seems to be delivering on its promise and companies using it are saying they have saved hundreds of thousands of $ in electrical costs over the past 2 years using it. 2 Boxs about the size of 4x4x4 said to power an average american house.

I talk to fuel cell guys at conferences, and they tell me this is 'old tech' been around for decades. The cells are made of ceramic materials and run at high temps (700-800°C), unlike the polymer membrane, <100°C kinds you also hear about.

The opinion in the field all those years was that the $/W and maintenance per run hour were too high to make the tech commercially viable. On launch, Bloom was basically giving the boxes away to build business, and they got rather heavy incentives from the govt. That, AND the historic low price of NG AND companies that are willing to pay a little extra for slightly lower CO2 juice....and you appear to have a business model.

IMO, Bloom took an existing tech that the CW had decided wasn't commercially viable, and sold it by finding a niche of wealthy early adopters and getting the govt to pay them to do it. They did not invent or really develop any new tech. IOW, not unlike what a lot of folks say about EVs. Think of them as the 'Tesla Motors' of stationary power generation.