Bloom Energy Servers installed outside eBay
From the way the media has covered Bloom Energy the last few days, you’d think the company had mastered cold fusion. Certainly they’ve mastered the art of awesome public relations, landing segments on 60 Minutes and Good Morning America, as well as appearing in articles in top newspapers and blogs.
What makes Bloom Energy special? For starters, the company has invented a solid oxide fuel cell that, according to executives, can take fuel (like natural gas or hydrogen, for example) and turn that fuel into electricity, cheaply and cleanly. The genius part is how these fuel cells are packaged – in power generators called “Bloom Energy Servers” (commonly known as “Bloom boxes”) that take up about as much room as a parking space. According to the company, a single “Energy Server,” can provide 100 kw of power – “enough to meet the baseload needs of 100 average homes or a small office building.”
Using natural gas as the fuel source, Bloom Energy claims they can generate electricity at about 8 to 10 cents per kilowatt hour, which may cost less than the electricity you get from the grid, depending on where you live.
Adding to Bloom’s credibility is the number of customers who currently employ Bloom boxes on their office campuses – companies you may have heard of, including eBay, Google, Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart and FedEx. Not exactly fly-by-night operations. At Bloom’s press event today, representatives from client companies gave impressive testimonials on the performance of Bloom’s Energy Servers.
Despite all that Bloom Energy has going for them, however, there are still questions about the practicality of their product. One is the high cost of an unsubsidized Energy Server, which is estimated to be in the range of $700,000 – $800,000. The fuel cells’ reliability is also yet to be proven. In addition, a large increase in the use of a specific fuel source, like natural gas, could spike the cost of that fuel.
Ultimately, it looks like Bloom Energy has created an evolutionary, rather than revolutionary product, and there’s not a thing wrong with that. They are doing a terrific job with marketing, and from their customer testimonials, it looks like their clients are very pleased with their purchases. While Energy Servers will not be the solution to our long-term energy woes, if they can help produce some relatively inexpensive, clean energy, that’s a good thing.