The Bloom Box: An Energy Breakthrough?

I'm going to quote him "unfortunately the sun doesn't shine 24 hours a day". Correct, it does not. But he is wrong, because Solar power does exist in the night time as well.

Solar power is generated by gathering the direct infrerred rays radiation during the sunlight hours.

Solar power is generated at night by NanoAntenna sheets that collect the infrerred rays at night time. During the day the radiation is absorbed into the earth, and after the sun goes down the earth begins to cool and the infrerred rays are given off by the earth not the sun.

NanoAntenna sheets are capable of collecting solar power during the day and night. These mini substations that he's building are for merely profit, not technology growth. The place depicted in the video that claims they saved over 100,000 dollars does tell you how much they spent on the generator farm you see there. And as they said, 15% of the power comes from them. A whole Whopping 15%.

(if I mispell, it's due to my keyboard)

Fascinating segment. In the web extras, the CEO states the household model can go right next to your air conditioning unit outside the house. and would be about one quarter the size of the closet looking model he opens in the segment. Yes, it does take some kind of fuel source to power it (i.e. Natural Gas or Biomethane fuels), but the power generation is supposedly extremely efficient. We shall see. I'm waiting for the company to be purchased at an exorbitant price and be shelved, just like all others have been.

Originally posted by wonkamaniac
Fascinating segment. In the web extras, the CEO states the household model can go right next to your air conditioning unit outside the house. and would be about one quarter the size of the closet looking model he opens in the segment. Yes, it does take some kind of fuel source to power it (i.e. Natural Gas or Biomethane fuels), but the power generation is supposedly extremely efficient. We shall see. I'm waiting for the company to be purchased at an exorbitant price and be shelved, just like all others have been.

Bingo, Oil company buyout in 3..2..1...
Sad when the only thing worse than our cynicism is the actual reality that justifies it.

Seems people forget this is the first shot out of the box. Version 1.0, and as they refine the technology it will surely get smaller and more efficient.

So you end up with one small enough to fit under the hood of a car...bye bye big oil..

You can bet they will have a very tough time staying alive because now that they are out in the open with it they have become a sitting duck. Lets just hope they are prepared for what is most certainly coming their way and are determined to refuse the offer that would put it on the shelf.

Again, Actually... there are models being built as we speak that would fit snugly next to a shoebox. But, let me first distingush between Energy-Power-Electricity.

It takes electricity to power a microwave (examle)
It comes from a power source
Which omes from energy

This model is said to create enough "energy" to creates enough "power" to create enough "electricity" to run everything in the average 1,500 sqft home.

reply to post by wonkamaniac


You really think this one will go down the same road? Even with all the exposure its been given? I'm not saying you're wrong, in all probability you are right, but this case differs from earlier developments in the field simply in exposure as the technological developments have already been made by others as posters have already stated in this thread.

I suppose its just me being naive in hoping I can have a better developed version of this sitting in my backyard within a few years. Ah well...

reply to post by Cosmicdjinn


You seem to know a lot about this. Can you tell me how Bloom's version of this energy generating machine is different to other recent developments that have not received as much publicity as this one? Is it better or worse?

On a side note...

Has anyone figured out what the countdown on their website is for?

[edit on 22/2/2010 by serbsta]

This changes everything. You could live off the grid just about anywhere in the world. You could use cow poop to fuel this thing. The electricity produced on the farm could be used for many things. Electric gardening equipment. An electric tractor! You will just need to figure out how to pay taxes.

reply to post by ViperFoxBat


True, that is the main benefit. But like you said, there will be some form of tax invented if this system ever really took off. Something like 'home grown energy tax' wouldn't be too far off the table. I'm kind of torn on whether or not they should remain operating as an independent company or whether or not they should seek investments to help them further their system and their vision.

Got to love how the msm doesn't explain anything about the product at all. You would think they would give a brief explanation of how it works.

I can't help but be skeptical about this. Even if it's as good as they're claiming then it's going to upset energy giants. How many times have we seen breakthroughs in new technology or medical breakthroughs which we never see again?

I also watched the show tonight and believe this technology will be used. I don't believe it will put any energy companies out of business though. What will probably happen is that it will be rented out like a cable box with a meter. This company will also be bought up by someone like Edison. A breakthrough has also been announced recently in the efficiency of solar cells. Increasing the efficiency from 25% to over 90%. Exciting times. Here is the Link.

www.eetimes.com...

I really hope two things:

1. That this actually works as promised.

2. That this doesn't get shut down by the electric companies politicking

I think it's a very exciting development -- not so much as an innovative breakthrough in making energy, but as a marketable package. Yes, currently too expensive for the average home.

The only thing that makes me suspicious.... (from the OP link):

Given the stealthiness, we were surprised when Sridhar showed us - for the very first time - how he makes the "secret sauce" of his fuel cell on the cheap.

He said he bakes sand and cuts it into little squares that are turned into a ceramic. Then he coats it with green and black "inks" that he developed.

Sridhar told Stahl there is a secret formula. "And you take that and you apply that. You paint that on either side of this white ceramic to get a green layer and a black layer. And…that's it."

Sridhar told Stahl the finished product, a skinny fuel cell, would generate power.

One disk powers one light bulb; the taller the stack of disks, the more power it generates. In between each disk there's a metal plate, but instead of platinum, Sridhar uses a cheap metal alloy.

The stacks are the heart of the Bloom box: put 64 of them together and you get something big enough to power a Starbucks.

Soooo, the "heart" of Sridhar's system is his fuel cells, and the particular manner in which he's manufactured them. That makes this system somewhat less self-sustainable, or at the least dependent upon the Bloom Box corporation for the fuels.

I think he's made a more efficient generator. Still, that's nothing to sneeze at if it operates as cleanly as he claims. I'm not certain how it would stack up against, say, a regular propane-burning generator -- which is also very clean. When they are making units with which that the average family can contemplate saving energy and costs, I'm sure they'll get much more attention.

I think the conventional power companies want to make money, and if possible, lots of it. I don't think that means they won't embrace cleaner technologies if they are able to. Last month we finished installing a solar system (which I will detail in a thread soon). We got the most efficient PV cells we could find and afford. You know who made them? BP Solar, as in British Petroleum.

Great story, OP, thanks.

reply to post by serbsta


Decentralised power is the future. That is unless fusion gets going

Decentralised power means tons of it isn't wasted in transmission, power cuts are very local and fixable, emergency situations are easier to deal with and generally life is better.

The question is whether the big power companies will allow it to happen because lets face it, they have a good monopoly and a lot of political and financial power.

Why cant the government just simply recreate Tesla's Wardenclyffe Tower ? Or at least use he's other technologies. But that would be too radical huh?

reply to post by serbsta


I remember Steven Greer talking about a little black box that was exactly the same size and would be able to power a US home.

Lets not forget what happened to Stan Meyer. He invented a device that could run basically anything with water or salt water. He was offered countless millions of dollars to surpress it but refused. Then he was found murdered one day. He was even on the news one time. Watch the following clip

www.metacafe.com...

I wonder how long it will be before they meet with a tragic accident? Or get brought out by an oil company? Six weeks I give it!

This is an awesome piece of equipment and has the potential to......dare I say...."change the world." We'll see.....I sent a quick letter to Bloom last night...inquiring about working with them and I'll keep my fingers crossed that something happens with that. The countdown is for the companies official "release" on Wed the 24th.........

Go Bloom!!!!

THis is by no means new folks. There have been companies working on these for years. I remember reading about a company building a system back in the mid-90s. They were beta-testing it on a police precinct outside Brooklyn where the aging power grid was particularly unreliable. The unit was about the size of a small refrigerator and could run on any hydrocarbon fuel: natural gas, propane, gasoline, kerosene, diesel, methane, etc. I can't recall the name of the company.

You can go here and buy experimental models or even a 5kw H2 system.

Originally posted by serbsta
$3000 per household isn't that hefty of a pricetag when you key in how much money it could save you on energy costs over a period of time and how much more efficient these are over regular solar panels.

I don't know. How much WILL a typical household save? I haven't found that information yet (and I can't gauge my savings based on Ebay's savings). I'm sure their would be savings, but how many years do I need to run this before I receive a return on investment?

Originally posted by pteridine
When everyone has one, where will the natural gas come from [55% of our power comes from coal; where will the gas come from to replace it?]?

This is the first thing that crossed my mind when I heard it uses natural gas. If these Bloom Boxes become popular, thus increasing the demand for natural gas, the cost of natural gas would of course go up. That would affect the "return on investment" calculation.

I'm not trying to be a complete naysayer here -- that's not my intention. I'm only saying before we embrace this technology as the greatest invention since sliced bread we need to consider the operating details a little bit. Like they say: the devil is in the details.

At the end of the day, Bloom Energy is just another company trying to make money by selling a product to consumers, so lets not be too jaded by the sales pitch. This could very well end up being a world-changing product, or it could be just another no-so-efficient or not-so-affordable alternative energy product like solar.

Household fuel cells may be the home power source of the future, but that does not mean that THIS particular product is that future. We need to find out more.