Bloom Box Fuel Cells Revolution Green Energy Technology

An installation of new Bloom Energy servers called the 'Bloom Box' are seen in service at the eBay headquarters February 24, 2010 in San Jose, California. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Fuel Cells a Revolution in Energy Technology

The long-awaited details of the advanced fuel cell developed by the Silicon Valley-based corporation, Bloom Energy, were released on Wednesday as what is touted by the green corporation as “a more affordable alternative to both today’s electric grid as well as traditional renewable energy sources.”

Each Bloom Box “energy server” can provide up to 100 kilowatts of power—enough energy to support a small business—in the footprint of a parking space

“Just as cell phones circumvented landlines to proliferate telephony, Bloom Energy will enable the adoption of distributed power as a smarter, localized energy source,” said Dr. KR Sridhar, principal co-founder and CEO of Bloom Energy.

Sridhar went on to detail the impact the Bloom Energy Server will have on the industry.

“We believe that we can have the same kind of impact on energy that the mobile phone had on communications.”

Originally contracted by NASA to build a technology that would help to sustain life on Mars, Sridhar and his team soon thereafter realized that the same technology could be used on Earth, and thus the Bloom Energy Server began it step into fruition.

 

Innovative Technology

The key component in the process is using the energy server with existing electrical source or alternative energy sources to reproduce energy at cheaper and cleaner rates.

Normally with the electrical grid there is a loss of roughly 20 percent of the electricity during the process of distribution.

The small size and footprint of the “bloom box” allows it to be placed outside of businesses eliminating the energy loss experienced though distribution.

“[The Bloom Box] is intended to replace the grid. It is cheaper than the grid. It is cleaner than the grid,” said one of its venture capital investors John Doerr.

While the technology is highly innovative, many analysts are stating Bloom Energy will have to partner up with one of the electricity/utility giants to have massive growth and effect upon the industry, due to the high cost of mass production.