BloomBox: Anyone care to weigh in?

Unknown

?

Steve Ebels_3

If I knew what it was

I might have an opinion

Robert O'Brien

Skeptical!

The  cynic on the 60 minutes piece gave it a 20% chance of taking off in the next 10 years,I didn't think the chances would be so high! He did say he thought it would say GE on the box rather than Bloom however!

Gordy

Hmmmm

Not much on the wireless part. Did he follow Tesla's research?



Some parts contradict. He said two of those blocks would power an American home. Then it was said one block would power a light bulb.



It seems to pass for the tax breaks of 50% so it must work right. Powell on the board of directors.....could this be a scam??



If it does what its suppose to it still uses fosil fuels. But I would dump every nickle I had in its stock if it went public.



If this indeed is true I can understand the secrecy.







Gordy

Unknown

Fuel Cells

The 60 minutes Bloom story probably has generated a lot of interest. I'm a bit skeptical as there seems to be so much PR hype involved. Colin Powell was a good infantryman and not a bad Secretary of State,but what does he know about fuel cells? As for having units at big name companies,Fed Ex ,Google that also smells of just good PR. I'm always a bit suspicious when there is a lot of heavy money and PR floating about.



 Fuel Cells have been around for a long time, Siemens, GE ,Daimler, United Technology, Ballard  to name a few that  have been working on them for years and they have a lot of test units out there.  Reliability and cost are the big factors that haven't been solved yet. I wish this guy luck and hope it's not scam as it would be nice to have a break thorough in the fuel cell field.

- Rod

jpf321

1 ceramic "disk"

he said 1 ceramic disk would power a lightbulb..and i believe that each block is 64 disks .. 

Unknown

jpf321

Just curious,,,, I have never seen anyone post a thread signature like that,,,, is there something you`re trying to say??

Gordy

Okay

 So watt size light bulb?

How much fuel to produce a kilowatt? I know they said 50% less.

So now my NG bill sky rockets the more these bloom boxes hit the market.

Whats the maintenance?

jpf321

i tried to condense it...

i tried to condense it, but the code for text sizing isn't recognized on this forum.



some of the links are there as helpful tools for others, some of the data is for people to reference if I am looking for help on something. other info there simply gives people an idea of where I am and how cold it is here.

jpf321

all good questions and all unanswered ...

there are several articles on the net today about these and many people have commented below the article with questions such as these .. one guy even worked out "if it was a 60W bulb then this .. or if it was a 100W bulb then this .." I believe he was trying to calculate the payback period for the eBay installation .. i guess we have to wait until wednesday .. when I'm torn between hearing about the BloomBoxes and listening to the Toyota hearings .. 

Unknown

Queens, NYC

OK,,,, I see now, but it`s cold here too(by times)  ;-).



Just never saw a laundry-list of helpfulness like this before!



First-time for everything I guess,,,,,,,,

jpf321

if you would like ...

If you would like the code to put the temperature under your signature I'm happy to provide it .. it is very easy for you to add.. and it doesn't clog up Dan's servers at all since it is served by my servers .. you will see that my Temp info is provided for station: KLGA .. and it is in near-real-time .. that is as often as the NWS updates their data. If you give me your station code which you can get from here: http://weather.noaa.gov/ I will "contact you directly" with the proper signature code. 

EricAune

No comment on the technology but,

The hype put toward the real life-in the field testing speaks volumes about the true cost of this particular product.



Notice only mega super huge successful corporations testing the Bloom box?  Why not have real life testing of smaller units?  the machinist down the road, maybe a local laundry.  Both are businesses and both consume large amounts of electricity relative to their footprint. Maybe in my home?  Oh wait, that wont be a sexy as Google, FedEx or the like.  (too bad, cause they haven't seen my wife)



 Very interesting, the only way this becomes a revolution is if its is affordable to the masses. 

Gordy

What about the Bloom Box factory

 They never said if the factory itself is running on these did they.



I guess one could only assume.



Gordy

jpf321

more about the eBay installation

see the article at following link: http://www.fastcompany.com/1560450/bloom-box-ebay-interview

DanHolohan

Here's a good link

http://gadgetophilia.com/a-comprehensive-guide-to-bloom-box-energy/

DanHolohan

And another

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/company-news/its-show-time-for-bloom-energys-supersecret-fuel-cells/19371147/

jpf321

official Bloom Energy Data Sheet...

Here's the data ..

http://www.bloomenergy.com/products/data-sheet/



taken from the below table (and if I did the math right):

661,000 BTU/hr at 100% efficiency would be 193.67kwH (using 1 BTUH=2.93x10-4 kwHr)

they as stating 100kw output .. and that efficiency is >50%



A few things that stand out:



Inputs





Fuels

Natural Gas,

Directed Biogas





Input fuel pressure

15 psig





Fuel required @ rated power

0.661 MMBtu/hr

of natural gas





Water required (for startup only)

120 gallons

municipal water





Outputs





Rated power output (AC)

100 kW





Electrical efficiency (LHV net AC)

> 50%





Electrical connection

480V @ 60 Hz,

4-wire 3 phase

Gordy

Maybe its just me

But I'm starting to be less then impressed. Using NG at 100% efficiency to get electricity at 50% efficiency. It makes a solar panel at 20% efficiency way greener.



I see the greeness of burning a fossil fuel with very little co2 emission.



Other then that I see one of these in my backyard, or at a substation for a community. But instead of transmission lines I see a larger gas line, and more of a strain on the NG supply. Which inturn will drive up prices. Because you know existing power plants on NG won't just close up shop.





Please enlighten someone enlighten me.



Gordy

Constantin

Take it in context...

50% efficiency for a gas fired system is actually pretty good. While some combined-cycle gas systems make it up into the mid-60's, they need to have a user for the waste heat. And combined-cycle systems usually only exist in big configurations. A bloombox could be pretty nifty in terms of hydronic heat generation, but like micro-CHP, I doubt that the maintenance, etc. can be scaled down to the point where folk won't object.



The Honda freewatt system is pretty nifty also, and based on a proven technology with loads of field data. If Honda were to release a system not tied to a particular manufacturer (they way they operate now in the US - not sure about the rest-of-world), I think micro-CHP could actually have a chance in multiple markets, especially Europe and China.



I have been involved with enough fuel cell due diligence projects to be pretty skeptical when it comes to claims by inventors. Who knows, perhaps this is a true breakthrough...