Bloom Box...Revolutionary New Fuel Cell Technology

[brian eiland]

Did anyone happen to see this story on 60 Minutes this past Sunday?

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6228923n&tag=contentMain;cbsCarousel

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/bloom-box-revolutionary-energy-source/

They plan on a big coming out party this coming week. This could be extremely exciting, and very far reaching.

[SheetWise]

If what is claimed is true -- including the price point -- it would provide an almost immediate payback for the average consumer. That would be an incredible leap in fuel efficiency ... could be an interesting week.

[rebar]

If this thing works and sells for what they say, you might find one in the back of a boat powering a electric drive motor.

[FAST FRED]

Probably the research on convertinf soft coal to fuel oil will have a far larger world impact.

The USA at least could do without imported oil for 300 to 500 years , should be time enough to create a better battery.

Most electric vehicles are (at least in the US) coal fired already as that is where the power comes from , powering the "base load" for night recharging.

Might be cheaper and far more efficient to just burn the coal directly as fuel oil.

Fuel oil in the tank is loads cheaper than a huge batt set with the 1/2 power of a 6 gallon outboard tank.

FF

[SheetWise]

Might be cheaper and far more efficient to just burn the coal directly as fuel oil.

FF

There are enough efficiencies in large power plants to compensate for the losses in distribution.

Another advantage of remote generation is that any source will work, nuclear, wind, solar -- no choices if the user burns fuel directly.

[kerosene]

just link to the company's website:
http://www.bloomenergy.com/

[rasorinc]

Lets hope it works as they say. A great deal of buzz about it right now.

[daiquiri]

There is too little technical info about the this new type of fuel cell. How is the fuel fed and dosed to the stack, what is the electrolyte they have used, how did they resolve the problem of cathode poisonong, catalist poisoning etc. etc.
It appears to be some sort of vapur-fed PEM fuel cell, the silicone ceramic plate could be porous and feed the vaporized fuel to the "black" and "green" membranes (I'm guessing), what happens in between them is a mystery (like all the rest).
Untill they come out and explain the physics of this new fuel cell, it is all just a well-done hype.

[CDK]

I support any new technology to efficiently generate electrical energy from fuel directly, but there is little evidence the Bloom box is a breakthrough.

It is expensive, needs regular replacement of the active parts and requires very clean fuel. In fact the only thing "new" is packing enough fuel cells in one unit to power a household (but they underestimate the power demand).

Yes daiquiri, I agree it's a hype.