The Bloom Box and Whether it Lives Up to the Hype

Americans are worried about energy, and for good reason: gas and electric bills are a major charge for all consumers. The scientific world has been scrambling for years to find renewable, cheap energy, or, failing that, ways to convert existing energy sources to be more usable.

Enter the Bloom Box, an energy source that does just that.

Here's a look at the technology, and whether it lives up to the tremendous hype it's been receiving.

The Technology

In short, Bloom Boxes are fuel cells, and basically combine oxygen and fuel to create energy. This can be used in place of a home's traditional electricity at a small portion of the cost, and the Bloom Boxes themselves are quite small when compared with the plants needed to make energy for buildings in traditional ways. They use small groups of cells to accomplish this; for further explanation, check out this CNET article.

Power provided by Bloom Boxes is extremely cheap and very clean, which has led to a huge buzz surrounding the technology.

The Cost
Bloom Boxes certainly cost a lot of money, and they're not going to be anywhere close to affordable for consumers for at least a few years. Of course, they'll pay for themselves in energy costs, and there are tax credits and state subsidization for some of the units. On top of that, the 60 Minutes piece featuring Bloom Boxes will undoubtedly generate more interest in them, and may increase investment and decrease the overall cost of the devices. However, CNET reports that they current costs are from $600,000-700,000 for business units.

Eventually, Bloom Energy wants to get the price of home units to around $3,000.

That's still a lot of money for most families, but there's certainly a lot of potential for energy-saving technologies, especially with an alternative energy-friendly Presidential administration. With the right kind of luck, the Bloom Box might be the answer to America's energy woes, or at least part of the answer. They're already in use at Google, eBay, and many other major technology companies--next year, you might have a Bloom Box generating power right into your house. This is one case where the hype for a technology is somewhat justified.

Bloom Boxes are downright cool, and they're more innovative than a lot of the power technologies in the world. Bloom boxes might end up being more than revolutionary, if everything goes right.

Here's hoping.

What do you think of the Bloom Box? Post your thoughts in the comments section below.
Sources:
Crothers, Brook. "Bloom Box: Power Plant In A Box". CNET.com