Anyone got any more info on these Bloom boxes, especially their efficiency?
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_14450048 "We have a 400 kilowatt installation on Google's main campus that delivers clean and affordable power," said Google spokesman Jamie Yood. "Over the first 18 months the project, he said, the Bloom Box has functioned 98 percent of the time.
They seem to be a lot bigger units (with a lot bigger price tagsUS$800k) than BlueGen and aimed at big corporations looking to improve their green image (hence the massive PR buzz), although they mention they plan to release home versions priced at around $3k in the future.
The unit in the picture here http://www.fastcompany.com/1557348/bloombox-bloom-box-fuel-cell-60-minutes-kleiner-perkins-kr-sridhar-green-energy-google looks a lot bigger than the dishwasher-sized BlueGen.
Also, there is no mention of using the excess heat produced (which is the real clincher for CFU) -- I guess it would be hard to Tech companies like eBay and Google in sunny California to make use of all the heat produced.
The technology sounds similar to CFU: ceramic cells powered by natural gas. Although the catalyst ("proprietary inks") used could be different.
CFU Price at posting:
16.8¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
