The Bloom Energy Bloom Box got a lot of coverage ahead of the Clean Tech forum. Blue chip companies such as eBay and Google, amongst others, were announced as customers; Arnold Schwarzenegger and General Colin Powell attended the launch; and the company’s CEO, Dr KR Sidhar, was featured on talk show 60 Minutes, appearing to claim that the device emitted almost no C02.
Exciting stuff, but what does the Bloom Box actually do?
Exciting stuff, but what does the Bloom Box actually do?
According to the press release: "Bloom’s fuel cell technology is fundamentally different from the legacy hydrogen fuel cells most people are familiar with. 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 developed and maintained."
Well, it’s a solid oxide fuel cell, which certainly is different from a hydrogen fuel cell. But that’s nothing new in itself: British Gas is already installing solid oxide fuel cells made by Ceres, a British company, into UK homes. It’s a very cool new technology, but one many businesses are currently producing, according to Richard Miller of theUK Technology Strategy Board.
As for the four primary ways Bloom energy is distinct, these are so fluffy as to be meaningless: we want data. And Sidhar’s claim, that it has nearly zero CO2 emissions, simply can’t be the case: solid oxide cells work by combining and burning air and methane (or other natural gases) to produce energy, water vapour and CO2, unavoidably. The question that must be answered is how much energy the Server generates for each unit of fuel input, and how much C02.
Bloom might turn out to be as fantastic as the press coverage it has received. But we need to know more. "It’s like launching a car and saying, 'This is amazing -- you put fuel in it and the wheels go round.' The question is how much fuel you put in," says Dr Niall Caldwell, of Artemis Intelligent Power, a company which aims to digitalise hydraulic power, also on the Clean&Cool Mission.
Well, it’s a solid oxide fuel cell, which certainly is different from a hydrogen fuel cell. But that’s nothing new in itself: British Gas is already installing solid oxide fuel cells made by Ceres, a British company, into UK homes. It’s a very cool new technology, but one many businesses are currently producing, according to Richard Miller of theUK Technology Strategy Board.
As for the four primary ways Bloom energy is distinct, these are so fluffy as to be meaningless: we want data. And Sidhar’s claim, that it has nearly zero CO2 emissions, simply can’t be the case: solid oxide cells work by combining and burning air and methane (or other natural gases) to produce energy, water vapour and CO2, unavoidably. The question that must be answered is how much energy the Server generates for each unit of fuel input, and how much C02.
Bloom might turn out to be as fantastic as the press coverage it has received. But we need to know more. "It’s like launching a car and saying, 'This is amazing -- you put fuel in it and the wheels go round.' The question is how much fuel you put in," says Dr Niall Caldwell, of Artemis Intelligent Power, a company which aims to digitalise hydraulic power, also on the Clean&Cool Mission.
Until this is answered, Wired will remain circumspect about the hype. Google and eBay are great companies (and we’d love to say Schwarzenegger is a great actor and governor…), but their endorsement alone doesn’t make a technology miraculous and is certainly no substitution for data.
No comments:
Post a Comment