Posted on 02/22/2010 4:36:25 AM PST by MindBender26
(CBS) In the world of energy, the Holy Grail is a power source that's inexpensive and clean, with no emissions. Well over 100 start-ups in Silicon Valley are working on it, and one of them, Bloom Energy, is about to make public its invention: a little power plant-in-a-box they want to put literally in your backyard.
You'll generate your own electricity with the box and it'll be wireless. The idea is to one day replace the big power plants and transmission line grid, the way the laptop moved in on the desktop and cell phones supplanted landlines.
It has a lot of smart people believing and buzzing, even though the company has been unusually secretive - until now.
K.R. Sridhar invited "60 Minutes" correspondent Lesley Stahl for a first look at the innards of the Bloom box that he has been toiling on for nearly a decade.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Our company is in the business of alternative fuels and I can tell you that commercial production of fuel from algae isn't the future. Just because something can be accomplished in the lab doesn't mean it will ever be commercial. There are huge problems with commercializing the process of fuels from algae and it is unlikely they can be solved; at least in the next 50 to 100 years.
The government acts stupidly or with malice; you pick. The carbon dioxide/global warming/energy shortage is a complete scam designed to control populations and launch the One World Government.
Oh, and by the way. All the Government money being poured into cellulosic processes to fuel is also a scam. The Germans had large commercial plants turning wood waste into ethanol as far back as the 1890s. Back then they could produce 50 gallons of ethanol per ton of biomass. Guess what? We are now up to about 60 tons. Like algae, the cellulosic to fuels processes are too expensive and will likely never be commercial except in extreme circumstances where the cost of acquiring and transporting the biomass is less than free.
Mega power companies aren’t going to like this.
yeah, because if I had a scientific breakthrough, I sure would want to announce it through a show with the integrity of 60 minutes.
OTOH, if I had a scam to push on people ...
Either we believe that officials at FedEx, WalMart and Google are lying on tape or the thing works: the boxes do produce power, in quantity, in the field. There may be hidden gotchas, of course, but at first glance it looks pretty good .
I didn’t see the story but am familiar with the technology.
First, the commercial box produces enough electricity to run dozens of households.
Second, the fuel cell is only part of the entire unit. There are additional components to deal with fuel conditioning and delivery and another set of components to deal with heat management. Fuel cells produce DC current so there is going to be an inverter and additional electrical components.
Agreed on both points. Four dollar a gallon gasoline started the current conflagration.
“”This invention, working on Mars, would have allowed the NASA administrator to pick up a phone and say, ‘Mr. President, we know how to produce oxygen on Mars,’” Sridhar told Stahl.
“So this was going to produce oxygen so people could actually live on Mars?” she asked
“Absolutely,” Sridhar replied.”
HOLY COW!! Does it cure baldness too?
There might be something here since it was funded by so called smart money. At least I was never solicited by this company for investment via email or snail mail.
Putting a box in every house is not their immediate goal. Selling big units to industry is their first goal. Selling big units to utilities is their second goal. Selling small units in areas with erratic electrical supply is later down the line.
They want to sell units to the utilities. If a gas line is available, it would be cost effective to install one at a substation to supply an entire neighborhood, this would reduce strain on, and extend the life of the current power grid.
Nuclear power is the only long term viable option.
These might be self-organizing nanoscale inks - they’re using such a concept to produce thin-film solar panels: http://www.nanosolar.com/
Anything that you’re planning to patent should be kept secret if you want to protect your patent.
Why does your car engine need a battery to get it started?? I have no idea if this “invention” is real or not....but, jump-starting is standard in many devices.
Uh-oh, the dreaded Dihydromonoxide. That stuff will kill you if you inhale it....
No all algea/fuel proposals are beyond commercial economics.
http://petroalgae.com/docs/press/PALG-Shareholder-Press-Release-20100218.pdf
What do you think generates the power in NASA shuttles? Fuel cells - the same as this gentleman is trying to skinny down so it can be commercially. You could buy a fuel cell right now to power your home - the same one NASA buys, but it would cost you several million.
As far as needing energy to start it - ever try starting a car without a battery?
Fuel cells are not heat engines. They get electricity using electro-chemical reactions. Thermodynamics are not involved.
Fascinating-Thanks for the post as I try to steer clear of 60 minutes
and has found a miraculous cancer cure? Not to mention that fat blocker that lets you eat like a pig and still lose weight?
Wait, there's more!
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