Bloom Box

[electron]

Now that the cat is out of the bag, what do you guys think?

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=622...ain;cbsCarousel

If you haven't heard about this yet, make sure to check out that video, product is supposed to be announced this Wednesday.

 

[Slates]

Very interesting and exciting. Its already used at places like Ebay, Google, etc.

I don't know if I buy it becoming "mainstream" for home use in 5-10 years though... but I would be very happy to be proved wrong!

 

[electron]

Hopefully it's the real deal, or doesn't have some strange negative effects. Looking forward to the official unveiling.

 

[damage]

now i find out about this just as i find out my solar panels are supposed to go up this week and walmart, flush w/ cash from their savings w/ bloom box are using it to buy vudu http://bit.ly/aALPcT

 

[upstatemike]

I was thinking about a Natural Gas Whole House generator... Now wondering if I should wait for one of these?

 

[electron]

That's what I was thinking as well, should be a lot less noisier than a backup generator. But I would be surprised if they can keep up with demand, I'd guess they would go after bigger customers first.

 

[Steve]

It will be a very long while before me and you can go buy these at reasonable prices. You will likely get alot of service from a genny before then.

 

[drvnbysound]

After seeing this, one can definitely see why Google got into the power related technologies and monitoring ...

 

[electron]

and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has just approved Google to buy/sell energy One more day before the details leak out.

 

[Dave X10]

Now that the cat is out of the bag, what do you guys think?

Reading your replies remind me just how old I am.

I remember as a small child... according to the "Weekly Reader" and the local "Sunday Morning Paper" we were going to have tiny Nuclear Power Plants in our basements or garages. Our trash would be burned away in these home generators that were going to heat and cool our homes. As well.. with the new battery technology under development (in the 50's).. these home generators would also charge our electric cars.

Maybe all that happened while I was away in the Army... and I missed it. But it has been over 50 years.... I think I would have heard some mention of that.

Or maybe con-artists are running full-bore again. As they did in the Carter years when the government curtailed energy supplies. But that would be easy enough to check. Just do a YouTube or Google search for "Free Energy Machine" or "Over Unity Device". I think the "Bloom Box" at 100 million dollars is just way too pricey. My "Dave Device" could do every bit as much as the Bloom Box.... and I only need 75 million dollars.

 

[drvnbysound]

Not sure where you got $100-million from.. they are ONLY $700-800k per unit. Of that they got rougly 20% back from the state (CA), and 30% back from the federal government, essentially cutting the price in half to ~$350k each. eBay purchased 5 units ($1.75-Million after "rebates"), of which they reported to had already saved $100k after 9 months of use (or $133k per year). At that rate, they will be paid off in less than 14 years

In any case, none of the above directly effects me right now - other than how much federal tax is taken out of my paycheck to pay for the above mentioned "rebates". My question is... How much money per year are my utility costs going to be reduced when they become $3k per household unit? And how long will it take to pay off that initial "investment"?

 

[mdesmarais]

They haven't really said how big those commercial units are, have they? I imagine those are pretty heft ones, right?
I think the numbers I heard were that using something like NG, the units were roughly twice as efficient at the big generators the power company uses. Then you would have no losses to your home. . .
Also saw mention somewhere that power company might use tech like this to roll out distributed generation, like where transformers or substations are now.
For people that are looking at 75k to run power lines to where they live (well off the road), this could be a big win.

 

[damage]

eBay purchased 5 units ($1.75-Million after "rebates"), of which they reported to had already saved $100k after 9 months of use (or $133k per year).

obviously ebay is angling to get these sold on their site. imagine the final value fees on those things

 

[Dave X10]

obviously ebay is angling to get these sold on their site. imagine the final value fees on those things

I hate being a skeptical old man... I really do. But I would guess eBay and Google [both] have invested heavily in Bloom Energy. This seems like a classic hoax/scam to me. Think: Moller Skycar, or Al Gores carbon credits.

 

[damage]

obviously ebay is angling to get these sold on their site. imagine the final value fees on those things

I hate being a skeptical old man... I really do. But I would guess eBay and Google [both] have invested heavily in Bloom Energy. This seems like a classic hoax/scam to me. Think: Moller Skycar, or Al Gores carbon credits.

walmart & fedex too?