Does the ‘Bloom Box’ Hold the Seret to 24/7 Alternative Power?
A mysterious new fuel cell is getting an amazing amount of attention from high-profile investors in the renewable energy industry. Google, eBay, Staples and FedEx are all singing praises for the “Bloom Box,” an innovative, cube-shaped fuel cell that can transform hydrocarbons like methane and oxygen into electricity. The technology behind the cell has been kept under wraps by its creator, Bloom Energy.
The cells consist of ceramic disks and black “inks” that somehow convert the methane and oxygen into electricity, operating at 1,000 degrees Celsius. In a recent interview on 60 Minutes, Bloom Energy CEO K.R. Sridhar held the first unveiling of the Bloom Box, which runs about $700,000 to $800,000 for a “corporate-sized” unit. eBay installed 5 of the boxes last year and claims to have saved $100,000 in energy costs in the 9 months since, savings that Bloom Energy claims make the product cheaper than solar power. Indeed, eBay has even chimed in to say that their boxes create more power than their 3,000 solar panels.
However, a recent blog from DailyTech points to some obvious holes in that logic. A little math work shows that, assuming the $800,000 price tag per box, eBay’s system would cost $4 million. 
And at the rate of energy savings recorded in its first year of operation, it would take more than 30 years to recoup the investment. On the other hand, eBay’s 3,000 panels and 650-kW solar system, assuming $200 per panel and a total system cost of $1 million (including installation), is highly unlikely to take 30 years to pay for itself.
Yet those figures could change soon. Funding and existing orders are piling up for Bloom Energy, a fact that Sridhar believes could bring the cost of a residential unit down to $3,000 in 5 to 10 years.
The Bloom Box does produce some carbon dioxide emissions, although that could be neutralized by the burning of plant sources. Two advantages the box does have over solar power are a tiny footprint (eBay’s solar array takes up roughly the same area as a football field, while five of the Bloom Boxes fit into a large room), and it can produce power around the clock, a major hurdle for wind and solar power.
Sources: DailyTech and eBay Green Team
Posted on February 23rd in Solar News by Dan.
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:03 pm
Ha, I just wrote a similar piece about the Bloom Box on my blog.
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:05 pm
And I just retweeted your post! Crazy how great minds can be on the same page like that
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:20 pm
I believe the payback they are talking about figures in incentives like the 30% federal tax credit and whatever Califorina offers in the way of renewable energy subsidies. Also, the solar panels don’t cost $200. The confusion may be that they generate 200 watts dc. The panels cost closer to $700. That’s also before subsidies
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:48 pm
I don’t get it. Can someone explain to me how this actually works?
I hear that it functions by oxidizing a fuel source, which could be a fossil fuel or solar energy.
A- Oxidizing a fossil fuel is exactly what burning a fossil fuel is. Wouldn’t this create the same amount of emissions?
B- How do you oxidize solar energy?
-Thanks
-Danny
February 23rd, 2010 at 5:58 pm
Harvey, you’re absolutely right. Thanks for correcting me on the solar panel pricing. I pulled those numbers from the source article and did not think it through. My apologies.
Danny, the boxes can consume fossil fuels – most notably methane – and would therefore produce some greenhouse gases. What Bloom Energy is apparently claiming is that plant based sources could be used as fuel that do not produce emissions. Their technology is secretive but the additional claim is that the Bloom Box is far more efficient and much less pollutive than other GHG emitting energy sources. And bear in mind that these boxes have nothing to do with solar energy. They are fuel cells that would sit inside a room deep inside a building, far from the energetic rays of the sun.
February 23rd, 2010 at 6:02 pm
Harvey, at your estimated price of $700 per panel, eBay’s solar array would’ve cost about $2.1 million just for the panels (not counting other components and labor for installation). That may seriously change the economic dynamic between the Bloom Box and the solar array. A correction worth noting again. Thanks.
February 24th, 2010 at 5:23 am
It seems to me that the Bloom Box is more of an energy conversion unit than a power source.
February 24th, 2010 at 9:18 am
What do we know about this company? Does it have the field to itself?
February 24th, 2010 at 3:25 pm
I’m primarily intrigued by the fact that big names have gotten behind Bloom, from Google to Colin Powell. It will be interesting to see how this pans out…and what effect it has on solar.
February 24th, 2010 at 7:58 pm
I paid $800 a piece for my 175W panels… Where did this guy get a price of $200 a panel… Math is a bit off.
February 25th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
I find this breakthrough absolutely amazing and marvel at the skeptics. This is not cold fusion, “discovered” in a flash and never amounting to anything. This has ten years behind it and real units producing CLEAN, efficient and eventually cost effective electricity. Did Edison, Bell and countless other early inventors go through such skepticism with their breakthrough products? Our government should take a lead and embrace what this man has done for humankind. The White should install a unit. Has Rush Limbaugh already said this is voodoo so some of the American public follows step? I hope not. I hope we simply don’t hear about this in a news cycle and never hear about it again.
March 7th, 2010 at 10:16 pm
Fuels cells – been there done that; there is no mystery and the law of physics are set. Microturbines? been down that path too. Solar PV is nowheresville without subsidies. Cogeneration? Yep. The bottom line is that traditional utility power will still be cheaper and more reliable over time.