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60 Minutes: Is the Bloom Box a big energy breakthrough?

By | February 22, 2010, 7:25am PST

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Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic.

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Larry Dignan

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Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic. He was most recently Executive Editor of News and Blogs at ZDNet. Prior to that he was executive news editor at eWeek and news editor at Baseline. He also served as the East Coast news editor and finance editor at CNET News.com. Larry has covered the technology and financial services industry since 1995, publishing articles in WallStreetWeek.com, Inter@ctive Week, The New York Times, and Financial Planning magazine. He's a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism and the University of Delaware.

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Talkback Most Recent of 5 Talkback(s)

  • Sure Wish I Were This Bloom!
    Sure wish I were this Bloom!
    ZDNet Gravatar
    naomibloom@...
    22nd Feb 2010
  • RE: 60 Minutes: Is the Bloom Box a big energy breakthrough?
    Unfortunately, from the video it is hard to work out what the box actually does. As near as I can figure it is a very efficient system for converting heat into electricity. From the video, it appears that the primary fuel envisioned to run it is natural gas, which is still a fossil fuel. While possibly lessening the carbon footprint per kilo-watt, if it really does provide cheaper electricity, we might actually see increased consumption when the cost of the electricity becomes less of a factor for home owners. If the boxes are used in sub-stations, then I see the grid becoming more robust as the source of electricity becomes decentralized, but I doubt that consumers will see a savings. I still want my Mr. Fusion!
    ZDNet Gravatar
    blu_z
    22nd Feb 2010
  • How i hope it is true
    I would say that if the companies that have invested and are using the Bloom Box are actually getting significant power there must be something. It sounds like he has invented a very efficient fuel cell that doesn't use exotic and hard to obtain material.

    Time will tell if this works out in the long run; and if entrenched interests, lawyers, bureaucracy, and the politicians allow it to succeed. I hope President Obama saw this.

    If i am skeptical, I have in front of me a copy of an article from Discover May 2003 "Anything into Oil" ..."Technological savvy could turn 600 million tons of turkey guts and other waste nto 4 billion barrels of light Texas crude each year. It was a great article.

    The years go by and i have heard nothing further. The web site associated with the article is gone.

    I haven't checked on cold fusion lately:).
    ZDNet Gravatar
    General Ludd
    22nd Feb 2010
  • RE: 60 Minutes: Is the Bloom Box a big energy breakthrough?
    At least with Solar, you don't need a fuel. I do see an opportunity for livestock farmers to generate revenue from this. It really depends if the fuel/oxygen reaction is more efficient than simply burning methane.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    USArcher
    22nd Feb 2010
  • RE: 60 Minutes: Is the Bloom Box a big energy breakthrough?
    Nice, but....
    What I see so far, is a more efficient way to convert
    Natural Gas into electricity. If it turns out to be
    less polluting, so much the better. There are a few
    questions though.

    How long does it last? In other words, is the only
    thing being consumed the fuel, which would be
    fantastic, or does each unit last a very long time?

    If your unit needs to be frequently replaced, it would
    not be so great. Also, if it gets popular enough then
    Natural gas use will rise and along with it the price
    of it. The problem with natural gas is there is a
    limited pipeline for delivery and that has been used
    in the past to manipulate the prices. Further, as
    usage rises, Oil will drop, which in turn will make
    that a more competitive alternative. Oil producers
    "like" $80 a barrel, but they will take $20 instead of
    getting nothing at all. Look for terrorists targeting
    the pipe lines after a while for this very reason,
    even though the oil producers will claim to have
    nothing to do with it.

    Still, even if this tech simply results in the gas
    turbines being replaced with more efficient versions
    it will be better overall.

    I would expect that we would eventually see CNG cars
    that use the fuel cells since at double the level of
    efficiency it actually makes sense since you will be
    able to get a car with sufficient range to be
    practical.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    richard233
    22nd Feb 2010

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