Big On Energy – Bloom’s Domestic Market Maker

Monday, March 08, 2010 | Posted by: Brian Maguire
Categories: Environment | Tags: Bloom, Energy, Wired, California, Domestic, Carbon, Market, Patents, Acacia Research, Design, Leaders, Jawbone, Headset, Audio Innovation, Vogue, Stylist, Streaming, Horizonal Innovation, Bill Gates,

This is the market-making story of the month. Bloom Energy unveiled an energy server which can provide 100 kilowatts of power by converting natural gas or other hydrocarbons into electricity, pretty much on demand.

Wired magazine reports that a single server is about the size of an industrial shipping crate, consists of four 25-kilowatt modules, and costs $700,000 to $800,000. In all, that means power for 9 to 10 cents after incentives in California.

Watch Wired’s excellent Q&A video feature, as Bloom Energy’s CEO explains how Bloom may enhance the fuel cell in the future for a push into the domestic market in about a decade. He also describes the enhancement as representing both a step forward and a step back.

Carbon dioxide and water are byproducts of the gas-to-electricity reaction. By adding some additional ‘plumbing’ components, the fuel cell can capture the water, run it through the fuel cell later and produce hydrogen. Hydrogen could then be stored until needed to power a car or provide electricity to a home.

The Guardian newspaper ran as slightly less effusive article on the same subject, but the potential global application of a more advanced system is undeniable, and it offers some more weight to arguments that carbon pollution issues are more likely to be combated by innovation, not necessarily by pollution disincentives.

Links On Bloom Energy:
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/02/video-qa-with-bloom-energy-founder-next-gen-fuel-cells-and-more/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/25/bloom-box-innovation