Bloom Energy Servers

 

I caught the piece on 60 Minutes about Bloom Energy, and just know
watched the videos on the Bloom energy website.  They now have
many units in the field that are providing power to specific office
buildings although I don't see anyone talk about 100% powered
by the Bloom energy Servers. These are run from natural gas as well as
propane and biofuel.
  In the videos they mention that the Bloomboxes will store as well as
produce electricity. Their hope is to unite the Bloombox with solar
collectors that produce electricity in the day, store it in the Bloombox
and have it produce electricity when there is no sun.

They do talk about them being cost effective after talking about it being
green
and carbon footprint reducing. I'd rather see them stress the cost
effectiveness,
however it is mentioned that if you have one at your office of home you want
it
clean. A power plant 50 miles away spewing pollutants doesn't bother you
like
one 50 ft away.
 I'm skeptic but I hope they really have a usable cost effective technology.
If you want to watch the videos skip the first one (Boy with airplane)
unless you
want to hear Arnold Schwarzenegger.
   Like to hear your input :-)
                                 Mike

 

amdx wrote:

I stumbled on this about two weeks ago. My first reactionw as that it was a
scam. After hearing that many fortune 500 companies were using this
technology I thought that it might actually be something. It is a bit hyped
in that it is not completely green and I believe the technology is in an
infancy. I hear that there are also other companies that are further head
then this one.

The good thing is that it might be a step in the right direction. The bad
news is that one can expect propane costs to explode if this takes off. What
I would like to know is the actual efficiency of the product.  If it is no
more efficient than running a generator off the propane then whats the
point?

IMO nuclear is still the clear winner and probably always will be. This type
of technology *might* be the next best thing...

 

Jon Slaughter wrote:

   One could convert from propane to LNG, as gas is cheap as all
get-out; gas storage facilities are either full or close to it and gas
production is increasing..

 


Robert Baer wrote:

  If natural gas is available in your area.  It isn't, in large parts of
Florida.  Propane has to be trucked into most areas, as well.  Neither
is cheaper than using electricity from the coal or nuclear power plants.

--
Lead free solder is Belgium's version of 'Hold my beer and watch this!'

 

amdx wrote:

It has come up before fairly recently. I confess I am sceptical in that
I cannot see where these units dump their waste heat. What he seems to
have done is make mass produced self healing fuel cells that are
tolerant of different fuels. And probably run rather hot inside the box.

Other fuel cell technologies exist but are rather fussy about what they
will burn. It annoyed me intensely when I visited the UK renewable
hydrogen economy exhibition in Trafalgar Square. The exhibition was
powered by an ugly smelly diesel generator on tickover when there were
two or three full scale fuel cell plants there capable of powering a
telephone exchange stood idle on the stands.


This sounds more like the marketing men speaking. His client list does
look impressive though. Time will tell if it is a flyer. It may even be
relevant to telephone exchanges as backup power.

If it really works then power grids may become a thing of the past.

A definite maybe. I would like to see some figures for the claimed
thermodynamic efficiency fuel in, electric power out and waste heat.

Regards,
Martin Brown