Energy solution link: Bloom Energy

[upi402]

http://www.bloomenergy.com/

"Energy Server Architecture

At the heart of every Energy Server™ is Bloom's patented solid oxide fuel cell technology.

Each Energy Server consists of thousands of Bloom's fuel cells. Each cell is a flat solid ceramic square made from a common sand-like "powder."

Each Bloom Energy fuel cell is capable of producing about 25W... enough to power a light bulb. For more power, the cells are sandwiched, along with metal interconnect plates into a fuel cell "stack". A few stacks, together about the size of a loaf of bread, is enough to power an average home.

In an Energy Server, multiple stacks are aggregated together into a "power module", and then multiple power modules, along with a common fuel input and electrical output are assembled as a complete system."


Does anyone know if this is as valid as it seems to be? Big firms are using their Fuel Cells; AT&T, Staples, Safeway, FedEx, WalMart.

[tkmorris]

1. It's valid, just far from being perfect

According to my latest read on them their devices definitely work, but the bottom line cost for power from them still runs about 20-30% higher than it does from conventional power plants. They are able to make it economically viable only through subsidies from the Fed and State govts for Green energy products. Of course if they are able to scale up and make the technology more mainstream they will be able to bring costs down considerably.

For me, this tech is promising for two reasons. It has the potential to be both practically and economically viable at a large scale, for users from individual residences on up to infinity. Furthermore, it produces considerably less pollution than most conventional power plants do. I would also expect to see technological advances in the efficiency of the device which would make it even more practical, IF the company can get enough of these into the marketplace to invest the funds needed to do so.

I have not heard anything about how long these cells are expected to last. That would be an obvious concern for anyone considering laying out the large sum of money it would take to purchase one. You could save money on energy costs but the device only pays for itself after about a decade or so. I think I read somewhere that one of their original prototypes has been in steady operation for a few years now, but beyond that who knows?