Bloom cell

Stealth start-up Bloom Energy on Wednesday publicly unveiled an innovative fuel cell that promises to deliver affordable, clean energy to even remote corners of the world.
The Bloom Energy Server provides distributed power generation, allowing customers to efficiently create their own electricity onsite. The company introduced its groundbreaking technology at an event hosted yesterday at eBay Inc. headquarters along with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, General Colin Powell, and several of its early customers.
Unlike traditional renewable energy technologies, like solar and wind, which are intermittent, Bloom’s technology can provide renewable power 24/7. The Bloom Energy Server is distinct in four primary ways: it uses lower cost materials, provides unmatched efficiency in converting fuel to electricity, has the ability to run on a wide range of renewable or traditional fuels, and is more easily deployed and maintained.

"The core of our technology simply is sand," Dr. KR Sridhar, principal co-founder and CEO of Bloom Energy, said pulling a black cloth off a clear glass container of sand and then holding up a greeting-card sized cell made from the material.
"It is available in plenty... and it has the scientific property that enabled us to make a fuel cell," he said.
Bloom servers work with a variety of fuels, meaning users can freely switch to whatever is locally available or most affordable, according to Sridhar.
"In Africa it could be ethanol from switch grass; in California it could be cow manure," marketing vice president Stu Aaron said. "The beauty of the technology is that it can be deployed anywhere and use the local resources that are most economical and clean."
The servers, nicknamed "Bloom boxes," have been secretly tested by a group of major corporations including eBay, Wal-Mart, and Coca Cola.
Google was Bloom's first customer, buying four servers that it installed at its campus in Mountain View, California.
“Bloom Energy is dedicated to making clean, reliable energy affordable for everyone in the world,” said Dr. KR Sridhar.

Published 25.02.2010