40 responses to “The Bloom Box”

1. 

   Spencer Abrams February 23rd, 2010 at 07:44

   This company is really cool, and it has potential to be a great success. The only problem is that it still uses natural gas/other fossil fuels. I really hope they are as successful in the venture, but I’m skeptical as well that the major corporations will at minimum delay the launch if not squash it altogether.

2. 

   Jeremy February 23rd, 2010 at 09:07

   This company certainly has great potential, but will inevitably face a hostile corporate climate, as suggested in the news article. Bloom’s intellectual property will be paramount to not allowing their competitors make the same thing and steal their customers. The idea of power companies purchasing boxes is interesting. While they would be interested in localizing power, it could greatly complicate their system. Instead of having a nuclear plant to power an entire region, the company would have to figure out how to get some other fuel to the BloomBox substation… Not the easiest task for some areas that don’t have the infrastructure. And, as an engineer, I wonder what the overall efficiency of the BloomBox is. While it avoids the losses in the transmission lines, it will inevitably have losses due to the chemistry, air quality, etc. and I wonder how much that really is. But this is definitely something to keep an eye on.

3. 

   Will February 23rd, 2010 at 09:14

   I don’t understand. It’s just a fuel cell, but they are marketing it as some magical black box that will do amazing things. This technology has existed for years, it’s still just really expensive. This is not a sudden breakthrough. It just simply won’t be economical for powering residential properties for another few years.

4. 

   Beck Warwick February 23rd, 2010 at 10:15

   if this company is successful at producing these bloom boxes with the proficiancy and affordablity that they are projecting this may very well be the invention of the century. however i do not believe the utility companies are just going to stand by and let this disruptive product reconfigure their market. the venture capitolist in the video says that the utility companies would simply buy these fuel cells as they do nuclear power plants, and sell the energy. if these fuel cells are affordable for families i dont see how the utility companies will not get cut out as unneccesary middle men. this might create a large backlash at first in the economy considering all of the employment that utility corporations provide but i suppose that is the nature of revolutionary innovation.

5. 

   Anthony Sikorski February 23rd, 2010 at 10:28

   If these is to be successful techonology it must be afforadable for the average person. I am not sure if they will be able to make it avaiable for such a low rate and that it will only be avaiable for larger companies. But, you never know things change so rapidly that technology drops way in price after just a few years. Hopefully this will be avaibale to the American public at a resonable price.

6. 

   Blake Bronowicki February 23rd, 2010 at 10:30

   This company definately seems appealing to me and definately a lot of other people. It will be interesting to see how this fnally turns out when it is released to the public. The only downside is that it is being run on fossil fuels and other types of natural gas. It has recieved a lot of funding so I dont see how it wouldn’t be a big success. It is only a matter of time to see how this innovative technology will turn out in the market.

7. 

   Jaideep Singh February 23rd, 2010 at 10:35

   Wow, it uses fuel cell which are one of the most energy efficient ways of generating electricity. “They have been running in stealth mode at Google, eBay, and elsewhere.” Why? Is the technology not proven? It looks awesome but isn’t revolutionary.

8. 

   loic mazet February 23rd, 2010 at 11:07

   I agree with Jaideep there is nothing revoltionary in this product.

9. 

   Shawn Gearhart February 23rd, 2010 at 11:14

   Talk about a true industry changer! The fact that top companies such as ebay and Google have depended on Bloom Box for some time now does a lot to silence my critical thoughts. I am curious about the big announcement they have tomorrow. I’ll stay tuned…

10. 

    Damon Ward February 23rd, 2010 at 13:01

    I was fairly skeptical about this when I began reading about it. As they said in the video, the technology has been around for a long time. With

11. 

    Damon Ward February 23rd, 2010 at 13:02

    With companies like eBay, Google, and Walmart on the bandwagon, I am a lot less skeptical about this becoming successful.

12. 

    Andrew Barr February 23rd, 2010 at 13:39

    I agree with Damon. If eBay and Google use it then it must be pretty good.

13. 

    Ben Albers February 23rd, 2010 at 13:47

    It seems to me that eBay and Google were trialing the bloom box to see how efficient it really is in saving energy. Maybe eBay and Google could create a partnership with bloom box in order to create a reasonable price for the common people.

14. 

    Michael Tym February 23rd, 2010 at 14:09

    I am amazed at this video. This is so cool and looks like it is the future. I also was skeptical about this at first but now that I know that these big companies are all behind it I think it is actually feasible that we will all have these in our backyard in 10 years or so.

15. 

    Alexandra Graves February 23rd, 2010 at 14:09

    I like this idea! I think it will definitely help with our energy crisis and save people a lot of money in the future.

16. 

    Kelly Plantz February 23rd, 2010 at 14:12

    I think this company has a lot to offer in the future especially with the new green fad. Everyone wants to find ways to be more green and this will soon be more popular with everyone wanting to be eco friendly. However I wouldn’t want to go out today and buy this and put it in my back yard. It is too new to know if it really is better than energy plants that were using today and I am sure it is not reasonably priced for households. Also will it pay for itself in the long run? If it does then I would consider getting it.

17. 

    Matt Kompara February 23rd, 2010 at 15:35

    One use this product could have is use by large contractors for temporary power on projects in delicate urban environments where there may be issues with traditional diesel generators. There is a large demand for power to actually build a structure before the hard lines are actually hooked up and activated.

18. 

    Jim Smith February 23rd, 2010 at 17:21

    Lets pump the brake pedal for a second. This is ONLY ‘green’ if you are using bio fuels with it. It still has emissions! The nice thing about it though is that you should be able to control them pretty well, but I would have liked to know whats coming out of the tail pipe (there IS one). So if you are putting fossil fuels in this thing you are going to get similar emissions to your car. It doesn’t have nearly the same losses as an ICE but they will still be there.

    Very cool though, if Bio fuels ever become mass marketed this has a pretty good chance.

    And when they say its more efficient then the grid, I wonder if they are looking all the way back to how the gas is obtained, transported, refined… Its the grid vs. that. Granted the grid sucks, so does obtaining, transporting and refining gas, particularly with fossil fuels becoming harder to access.

    Really cool though, particularly if it is run on carbon neutral bio fuels.

    Jim

19. 

    Keegan Klauke February 23rd, 2010 at 17:53

    wow Lipitor why do I not have that yet? I do not like ads, looks like I need to wait to learn about this when It gets into text form.

20. 

    Courtney M Cronk February 23rd, 2010 at 19:39

    a good idea. but will it work? guess we will have to wait and see how this pans out! my prediction? we will have these in our backyards before my time is up. whether or not it will cause our fish in our ponds to have 3 eyes, i dont know.

21. 

    Amanda Edmondson February 23rd, 2010 at 19:51

    It’s so neat to hear about all of the new things happening in the business world. It really is a benefit of taking this class because we are exposed to so many new ideas. The Bloom Box is a very interesting concept. Once again, entrepreneurs are jumping on the “green” trend. This proves that it is not going away anytime soon. I am curious as to how electric companies will react to this new idea. I think they will put up a fight and try to keep a hold of the industry…but only time will tell.

22. 

    Amanda Salomon February 23rd, 2010 at 19:57

    I think this a good idea, but I don’t understand how it will work. I feel though it will be great a thing for our future, as we are always finding ways to go green. With google, and ebay already on board, I don’t think they will have a hard time getting this off the ground.

23. 

    keith carlos February 23rd, 2010 at 20:07

    If ebay and Google uses this it must work well.

24. 

    Colleen Cahill February 23rd, 2010 at 20:08

    I agree with many of comments in that this technology isn’t that innovative. What will be innovative is if they can market this product to the mass public at a low enough price. It really ticks me off to hear about some of the incredible developments in renewable energy that exist but haven’t been made accessible to the public. We need to find away to mass produce these types of products and cheaply!

25. 

    Martin Murray February 23rd, 2010 at 20:29

    Good to see a product with so much power and uses clean energy, making this product very relevant in todays society. I would like to see more of these products accessible to the public.

26. 

    David Hyman February 23rd, 2010 at 22:17

    This company has so much potential! It is great to see that companies actually care about the environment, and use clean energy

27. 

    Colby Beacham February 23rd, 2010 at 22:51

    Companies like this that gain to much hype never seem to live up to their potential. I’m rooting for Bloom Energy though, it might not be a totally new idea but it has alot of potential. As of right now natural gas is still the most viable source of fuel by far, no other alternative sources even close to match its output so until something remarkable is invented companies that can make gas more efficient will be really successful.

28. 

    Michael Evans February 23rd, 2010 at 23:02

    I agree with Colleen; until they can find a way to lower the price and mass produce it, it’ll just be another stunning technology that everyone wants but no one can afford.

29. 

    Justin Riley February 23rd, 2010 at 23:34

    I also agree with Colleen, unless they can find out how to mass produce them or if they do not find a way to make them cheap for the general public to afford them, then it won’t be a very big success. If the general public can’t afford them and only big businesses will be able to buy it so it will not be able to grow very much.

30. 

    Joseph Mecca February 24th, 2010 at 01:42

    Pretty incredible. Over 100 million dollars is a lot of money for the fellas down in scilicon valley to invest. They must see some great potential in this idea. Obviously they have succeeded and failed in the past, but the idea of a clean energy scource is so appealing as an investor. It’s practically a romantic fantasy to believe it can be done, and reep the profits of it.

31. 

    Angeline Tran February 24th, 2010 at 01:57

    wow! I wish they would go back original idea and make oxygen in space! When I was young I really thought that those sci-fi movies were real. I still have hope! Come on NASA! Make it happen in my lifetime!

32. 

    ashley lane February 24th, 2010 at 12:33

    I think that it is too much money for what they are trying to accomplis. It truly would be a great feat if they get it marketed and off the ground.

33. 

    Mahmood Alrawi February 24th, 2010 at 12:49

    my brother had just sent me this link the other day…this is an awesome idea, i woudn’t mind having one.

34. 

    Tony Coiro February 24th, 2010 at 15:55

    All the electric vehicle forums have been goin nuts about these since 60 Minutes ran this.

35. 

    Josh Graves February 24th, 2010 at 16:40

    how seems like its going to put a BUNCH of people out of work….good idea, but its not effieient…over 400 million and they have NOT got a product? cmon

36. 

    Alan Dawson February 24th, 2010 at 18:16

    If they werent using fuel for this box it would be amazing, but I do love the idea of it. It still blows my mind that people are figuring out how to do these things.

37. 

    Thomas Gick February 24th, 2010 at 19:11

    I can’t wait until they make these available for the public, we could really put these to good use

38. 

    Andrew Huff February 25th, 2010 at 00:16

    WOW! From what the video shows this seems like a great idea. I wonder, however, how ‘green’ the bloombox really is. The video said that it uses sources of energy that must be collected; such as natural gas. Also is this device going to make since economically? Will it be cheaper to buy mass produced electricity than buying natural gas to produce my own electricity.

    One final point is how am I going to get land fill C02 gas to my house?

39. 

    John Gorbandt February 25th, 2010 at 09:40

    I agree with Damon Ward they are being used by some very large corporations. So they must be doing something well. The only problem I have with it is the cost.

40. 

    Stephanie Mellady February 25th, 2010 at 12:08

    This seems like it could start the next big thing. One big issue I see is when the video was talking about the air filters clogging up, that could be a major issue if these do become more common.