Replacing the Power Grid with the BloomBox
Posted by Hudson DeWeese on Tue, Jun 29, 2010
Originally the BloomBox, invented by K.R. Sridhar, was designed for NASA to take fuel and electricity to create oxygen by means of a fuel cell to be used on a mission to Mars. Once NASA canceled the mission Sridhar reversed the operation of his invention to use fuel and oxygen out of the atmosphere to create electricity. Sridhar aggressively predicts that the BloomBox will be implemented in every house in America in less the ten years and will effectively replace power plants.
BloomEnergy has reportedly raised $400 million to develop the BloomBox which has been implemented in companies like Google and EBay for over nine months. The companies that have been testing the BloomBox have had little and inexpensive maintenance costs. The effectiveness of the BloomBox has attracted investors like Kleiner Perkins who also funded Google when it was starting out. The BloomBox is getting much attention because of its small size, low noise output and efficiency. It is expected to cost an average U.S. home less than $3,000. It can run on various gasses including natural gas, methane from landfills, and biomass. Mass manufacturing does present a problem as BloomEnergy is only able to produce one BloomBox a day.
Bloombox also saves electricity that is being lost through transmission lines and the power grid. Transmission lines are the large electrical lines that carry electricity from the power plants to our homes. 6.5% of the total power in the U.S. is lost due to the transportation of electricity. If BloomBoxes are implemented in every house, this alone will save the 6.5% of electricity that is wasted annually.
The BloomBox is a revolutionary green energy development. If K.R. Sridhar can mass manufacture the product and drive the price down, the implementation of this device could be the next big thing. Click here to watch a 60 Minutes interview with K.R. Sridhar explaining the function of the BloomBox in more detail.