Let's Hope Bloom Energy's 'Bloom Box' Is Bathed In Good Karma & Kilowatts of Clean Energy
Tue, February 23, 2010 
K.R. Sridhar, founder of the Silicon Valley clean tech start-up Bloom Energy, has a global vision, one that’s exciting media and investors both. Sridhar has plenty of skeptical critics, charging that Bloom is certainly not the first fuel cell company to promote clean energy.
As the Next Big Future blog pointed out, the Connecticut company Fuel Cell Energy has been installing fuel cell units since the 1990s, but lost $71 million last year. “People have been trying to develop fuel cell technology for the last 100 years,” says Ron Pernick, cofounder and managing director of Clean Edge, a research firm focused on clean technology. “The biggest obstacle is price, price, and price.” via ABC News
Sridhar says he’d like to see his company’s Bloom Box fuel cell technology lighting up most American households within the next 10 years. Then there’s the fact that 1.5 billion people live without electricity today. Many of these “powerless” live as humans did centuries ago, in darkness and cooking over wood fires that damage their health and the environment.
Bringing the Bloom Box to villagers could be a similar jumpstart to the way that mobile phone technology has bypassed land lines in developing countries.
In Dec. Bloom Energy, which has raised $400 million so far, was named one of 26 companies by the World Economic Forum as 2010 Tech Pioneers, developers of products that could advance the global economy and have a positive effect on people’s lives. via Business Week
With the unveiling of the ‘Bloom Box’ this week, Sridhar says the unit should cost about $3,000 for a home unit to start. Skepticals agree that’s a big breakthrough if the technology is offered at this price. Fuel Cell Today says the current units, designed for business which is also Bloom Energy’s initial target, cost $800,000. No word yet from Bloo, energy on the cost of an industrial unit.
Sridhar says his invention works, because he initially invented a similar device for NASA as a rocket scientist.
“This invention, working on Mars, would have allowed the NASA administrator to pick up a phone and say, ‘Mr. President, we know how to produce oxygen on Mars,’” Sridhar told Stahl.
“So this was going to produce oxygen so people could actually live on Mars?” she asked.
“Absolutely,” Sridhar replied.
When NASA scrapped that Mars mission, Sridhar had an idea: he reversed his Mars machine. Instead of it making oxygen, he pumped oxygen in. via CBS News
Bloom on 60 Monutes, Feb 21 2009
Reader Comments (1)
This can be not very simple to accomplish a kind of smashing data related to this topic. But clever men come to essayscentre.com to purchase the literary essays.