Bloom Box provides all the electricity for a home

[dyne]

Look up Bloom Box in Google. Sixty Minutes on TV last night told of this new device which
generates enough electric power so that people will no longer need to buy power from the
electric utility company. The device is very expensive now but the price should come down to
perhaps $2,000 in five or ten years. It has NO moving parts and should last forever. For fuel
it runs on oxygen and various fuels such as methane, natural gas, biodiesel, fuel oil or
solar energy. Two units about the size of a heat pump will provide all the power needed
by a typical home. The only maintenance is that air filters must be cleaned periodically.
This is NEW developing technology. Already these units are providing power to Wal-Mart,
Ebay, Staples, Microsoft and other businesses. The cost of operation is MUCH less than
any other source of electricity. And under present laws it qualifies for an unlimited 30%
federal energy tax credit. It appears to be a great advance for the future.

[thomtax]

Dyne,
No to be cynical, but outside of their own self serving website that lists all these companies, are these companies really using this technology or have they just agreed to try a few units. It might be great if it really works, but if it is using a fuel such as natural gas, propane, etc, how is this a great difference from what many utility companies are doing? And if there is a very large upfront cost, how long will it take to offset regular electricity costs?

Thanks for sharing with us - I'm always interested in new approaches, but just have seen so many of the latest, greatest thing become fads. I remember several years ago when vehicles were being converted to run LNG and LPG because it was cleaner, etc. It seems to have all disappeared, but last week I see an article hyping using this type of fuel for the future and how great it was. My question was, if it is the answer, why did it go away 25 years ago.

LT

[gkaiseril]

This is a fuel cell and this source of energy has been around for some time. There maybe a new way to make them without the use of an expensive catalyst, platinum. But there could be some issues with chemical reactions that generate the power, filtered air, and how to ramp up production for commercial manufacturing at a reasonable price.

Currently the companies using this product are only using it at one site or smaller and are user testing the product to see how robust the product is in the real world. They are getting about a 50% government underwriting by tax credits or grants.

[dyne]

This is a NEW and developing technology and who knows what the future will bring. It was reported to consume HALF as much fuel as any other electric provider source. I saw pictures on TV of a number of these units outside of businesses which were suggested to possibly be places like Wal-Mart, Ebay, Google, Staples, Microsoft, etc.

[gkaiseril]

Fuel cells were first demonstrated in 1839, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_cell, and even President Bush mentioned them in his state of the Union speech in 2003. They have been used by NASA for space capsule and in the space shuttles for year. What is new is the material being used to create the cells. Google's test cell cost $700,000.00 and has had a failure because routine maintenance was not done. An air filter need to be cleaned. Also each individual cell in the unit needs to be hand crafted, so the manufacturing cost needs to be automated and like computer IC's or camera sensors this can take a long time and might not even be possible.

But it is eligible for an energy credit on your tax return.