Now that the dust has settled from the mega-hype that surrounded the launch of the Bloom Box, here at NG Power & Energy Europe we thought it might be a good idea to take a proper look at the device the creator, Bloom Energy, claims will change the energy industry forever by "revolutionising" the way we generate and consumer power. It's time to try and separate fact from fiction.

Now that the dust has settled from the mega-hype that surrounded the launch of the Bloom Box, here at NG Power & Energy Europe we thought it might be a good idea to take a proper look at the device the creator, Bloom Energy, claims will change the energy industry forever by "revolutionising" the way we generate and consumer power. It's time to try and separate fact from fiction.

It's easy to see why there was so much excitement circling the long-heralded announcement of Bloom's solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), some of the world's largest and most influential tech firms were already customers and retired Gen. Colin Powell has been named as a board member. People were putting two and two together - "if these guys are buying into this thing, then it must be good".

However the SOFC technology is not a new idea in principle (fuel cells were even used during the Apollo moon missions), which immediately raises questions as to whether the Bloom Box is as innovative as the company claims. There are a number of other startups with similar products close to release, and although the technology is certainly an interesting way of producing small amounts of 'clean' energy at a relative low cost it remains, as yet, unproven.

"Power plant-in-a-box"

Other developers, such as Ceres Power in the UK and Ceramic Fuel Cells in Australia/Germany, have products close to market launch and at the moment it is impossible to know if Bloom's product is better or likely to be more attractively priced or more long-lasting.

In case you missed how the Bloom Box technology works, each "power plant-in-a-box" comes full of thin fuel cells, bundled and packaged into an outdoor-safe case. The individual cells soak up oxygen on one side, "and fuel on the other. The two combine within the cell to create a chemical reaction that produces electricity," reported the exclusive CBS bulletin.

In some cases, CO2 is still being emitted by whatever power is feeding the Bloom Box. So, rather than calling this new device "zero emission energy," maybe it's better to think of the Bloom Box more as a magnify-er for already-green energy sources and as an efficient filter for dirty ones.

Which brings us to some of the claims Bloom are making.

Bogus claims?

Bloom Energy says that its fuel cells convert about 50 percent of the energy in incoming fuel into usable power, which is the equivalent of a 40 percent to 100 percent cut in carbon dioxide emissions compared to centralized power generation. Fuel cells, which operate without combustion, greatly reduce or eliminate smog-producing and other air pollutants as well. But IDC Energy Insights analyst Sam Jaffe points out natural gas power plants can also operate near 60 percent efficiency, making the overall efficiency about the same as a Bloom Box even after losses of energy in transmission lines are figured in.

This doesn't make Bloom's claims bogus, but perhaps takes a bit of the gloss off. However at its launch Bloom Box inventor K.R. Sridhar did announce the company has developed technology to convert solar-generated power into hydrogen, which could be used to run its fuel cells to make electricity, also making the Bloom Box an energy storage device. So, for first generation technology Bloom aren't doing too badly.

But what about the company itself?

Even for those actually in the green tech industry, trying to dig up information on Bloom Energy is like searching for the lost city of Atlantis. The company have a web site, but prior to the launch of the Bloom Box there was a cloak of mystery and secrecy surrounding the company that didn't always work in its favour.

On the data provided so far there is nothing to suggest the Bloom Box is ahead of the SOFC competition, as it doesn't appear to represent a substantial technical advance over companies like Ceramic Fuel Cells.

However, Bloom Energy have the likes of Google, Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart and Colin Powell well and truly on their side so even if it doesn't really offer anything truly revolutionary, it already has a massive head start in the market.

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Daniel Jones

Daniel is a Politics and Philosophy graduate from Cardiff University where he also worked as a section editor on the award winning student newspaper. After university he joined an IT support company where he was a B2B online writer. He loves anything to do with sport and joined GDS in July 2009.