The idea of a fuel cell has been around for a long time. According to Wikipedia, The principle of the fuel cell was discovered by German scientist Christian Friedrich Schönbein in 1838. I would not have guessed that the idea had been around for more than 100 years! So will a clean inexpensive energy source ever exist?
A compnay call Bloom Energy has invented a power plant in a box that can can generate power without being connected to the electric grid. Sound too good to be true? The Bloom Box exists and and is already being used by 20 companies like FedEx, Walmart, Google, and Ebay.
Click HERE if you can not see the embedded video above.
How big is the Bloom Box?
This fuel cell (actually two blocks stacked on top of each other) could power a home in the U.S. 24 hours a day 365 days a year.
How much does a Bloom Box Cost?
Currently, these boxes cost some $700,000-$800,000, but eventually, founder K.R. Sridhar
envisions one in every home — and he thinks he can get the cost below $3,000 for a unit to make that happen. And he’s talking a 5 to 10 year timeframe for this. (quote from TechCrunch)
Check out CBSNews.com for the full story on the Boom Box and 5 videos. The story is fascinating.
Bloom Energy is holding a public unveiling tomorrow. I will be watching to hear what they have to say. The Bloom Box has a huge potential if they can get the cost down to an affordable level.
Would you buy a Bloom Box for your backyard?
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You’d just have to remind the kids not to play with the box, right?
Ha ha! Definitely!