The "Bloombox" - Cheap, clean electricity for all?

Andy_WSM

OK, this may be a long way off - it may not. Trials are taking place at big companies like Google, EBAY and so far the "bloombox" is performing as expected.

Watch the video for more information:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/22/the-bloom-box-a-power-plant-for-the-home-video/

If it were April the 1st I'd be very suspicious of this, but it seems genuine - and potentially a look into the future?

Fuel Cells have been around for years, but the difference with this one is that the cost of manufacturing it is much lower than any previous fuel cell. Maybe this will make clean electricity much more affordable?!

Andy_WSM

...

(Hmm, the post I responded to got deleted!)

paceinternet

Which part of it is "cheap"?
Maybe they will be publishing more details tomorrow.

Andy_WSM

paceinternet wrote: »

Which part of it is "cheap"?
Maybe they will be publishing more details tomorrow.

In the video the inventor claims that they are aiming to sell domestic units for $2,000. The cost of generating electricity would be the cost of the fuel of choice - maybe natural gas, maybe something else - but it doesn't seem to need large quantities of fuel, claiming to be twice as efficient as power generated by gas power stations.

dannymccann

Those two blocks can power the average high-consumption American home -- one block can power the average European home.

Go figure, not only do their cars use twice as much if not more fuel than ours, at half the cost, but so do their houses. Whats a typical monthly utility outlay in the US, in a state with a similar climate to ours?

mech_2

Smells of marketing hype to me. Ceramic fuel cell development has been going on for some time. Usually for microCHP units. Bloombox doesn't even seem to be CHP, so it's going to struggle to match the competition in terms of running costs if they ever make a unit small enough for the residential market. Others are already on the way:
http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/Case-Studies/All-Case-Studies/Ceres/
http://www.renewableenergyfocus.com/view/6710/ceramic-fuel-cells-sells-first-bluegen-residential-cogeneration-unit-in-europe/
Just Google SOFC CHP and you'll find dozens of them, though a lot of them seem a long way from a commercial product.

The Bloombox guy seems to think he can make a residential unit for under $3000, but I'm sceptical. The large units they're making now are $700000 and it doesn't say how much power they generate, but I'm guessing not more than 20 times what a residential unit would need to produce. So he needs to make a product that is a 20th of the capacity for less than a 200th of the price.

At the end of the day though, new or not, it still burns fossil fuel. It's not a magic bullet.

paceinternet

And the hype is building:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/02/24/bloom_box/

http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/24/live-from-the-bloom-box-press-event/
introduced by Arni the "Governator"

And to add some more weight to "almost too good to be true", he has the following characters as part of the presentation:
9:31AM Coming on stage: John Donaho of eBay, Bill Simon of Walmart, ... FedEx, Cox, Brian Kelly of Coca-Cola, and Google's Larry Page. There are quite a number of heavy hitters on stage.

Pincher

Paradyne shifting, if it works.

Assuming electricity transmission loss is 50% from powerplant to my house, there is a 50% reduction in cost already. So, if my electricity is currently generated by a gas fired powerplant, and I am paying 8p per kWh, then generating it locally should bring the price nearer to 4p.
Assuming the Bloombox is more efficient than gas fire, it could mean 3p per kWh. At this price, a £10,000 PV solar panel installation does not make sense. 3p per kWh is cheaper than Economy 7 night rate! I can still burn the gas in a boiler for heat in winter, if that is a little bit cheaper. Solar hot water may still have a place, if it costs around £1,000 to install the whole thing.

This will supercede plug-in electric cars. Re-filling with LPG, CNG or compressed Bio-methane (smelly, phew) is much more convenient.
In comparison, no one in their right mind will want a plug-in electric, which needs a £10,000 battery that weighs half a ton, and takes EIGHT HOURS to charge! The space and weight saving is fantastic. You might need a bigger tank for the fuel, but the stack is ridiculously compact.

For mobile homes and boats, this means you don't need to keep the engine running to have electricity.

It's a Nobel Prize winner, if it's all true.

DVardysShadow

DeLorean comes to mind. And Springtime for Hitler

OK, you make one which works well. It matters not what it costs, the more the better. You predict a selling price for the manufactured product which means demand will be huge and economies of scale will push the predicted manufacture costs significantly lower. Then you sell your company to investors. Several times over. You sell 300% of the shares in your company, at which point you don't want the project to succeed. Then you go bust, having wiped out 100% of the share capital. Then you live as a failed entrepreneur on a tropical island.

There is potentially more money to be made from this not working than from it working.