Bloom Box Energy Cell Promises Affordable Self-Generating Electricity

If a little black box could provide free electrical power for your home year after year for an initial cost of only $3,000 USD and little or no maintenance expenses, would you purchase one? The latest example of energy cell technology, called a ‘Bloom Box’, claims to do just that. In many parts of the U.S such a device would easily pay the very first year. KR Sridhar, CEO and co-founder of Bloom Energy is counting on affordable electricity in his little black Bloom box being the wave of the future.

What’s the catch?

Actually, beyond hitting that $3,000 sticker price, there is no catch. Energy cell technology has been around for years, and larger Bloom boxes are already used at Google and half a dozen other corporations at an initial cost of around $700,000 each. Even at that price, Bloom boxes provide more energy at a lower cost than an entire field of solar collectors. Once they are set up maintenance is minimal.

How does the Bloom box work? A layer of ordinary beach sand is first processed to create thin wafers inside a protected black box. Oxygen enters one side of the Bloom box and natural gas enters the other. Inside the cell, the oxygen and gas then combine and a chemical reaction triggered by the layers of sand produces electricity. No combustion, no burning, and no power lines are necessary to generate the power. Energy cell technology (like the Bloom box) produces a reliable stream of electricity independent of the public electrical grid.

Sridhar foresees larger boxes being used to generate the electricity provided by public power plants in much the way coal is used today. Naturally the Bloom box is a much cleaner source of energy than coal and is also a much safer source than nuclear power. Individual Bloom boxes could be used in remote locations for people who cannot access a public electrical grid, or could be used by homeowners as a back up or as a primary source of electricity at their own discretion.

Bloom Energy is quick to point out that mass production of the Bloom box is at least ten years off, but the Bloom box is already being used successfully right in test commercial applications. The Bloom box is currently designed to create electricity for ten to twenty years or longer before it needs to be replaced with a new unit. Such a device could revolutionize the way we use and think about electrical energy, and dramatically improve the quality of life for millions of people around the globe.

Still, many experts are skeptical. Although venture capitalists have been banking on the Bloom box for years now, pouring millions of dollars into Bloom Energy and even hyping the product in a recent feature on the popular television show Sixty Minutes, critics in the industry claim the hype doesn’t match the current capability. With several start-up energy companies competing to be the first on the block with a mass produced, affordable energy cell, it is difficult to assess how much of the criticism is valid and how much is sour grapes.

In any case, fuel cell technology is a promising new alternative energy option. Should the Bloom box actually fulfill its promise, energy independence will no longer be a pipedream; it will finally be a mind-blowing, globally transformative reality.