The Bloom Box - Getting closer to life on Mars

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SAN JOSE, CA - FEBRUARY 24: An installation o...

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

There’s been so much in the news about the Bloom Box this week and with it, of course, both cheerleaders and naysayers. Of course we’ll all have to wait to see the results achieved by the corporate users like Fedex, Wal-Mart, eBay and Google who are testing this fuel cell technology but I’m betting on the ‘yes’ team.

Dr. KR Sridhar, CEO and co-founder of Bloom Energy, has taken his knowledge from NASA’s Mars space program which was directed to use solar energy and water to produce fuel fro transportation and air to sustain life. By redirecting that research he developed the bloom energy server. While lowering the commercial use of fossil fuel energy is the first step the goal is to develop the technology for residential usage. Dr. Sridhar hopes to see brick-sized energy servers within 10 years at a cost of about $3,000.

Theoretically a 1 kw Bloom Box in the basement running 24/7 would cover a typical US home using 25 kw’s of electricity daily. Since we don’t maintain steady usage throughout the day your excess electricity could either be stored in batteries or dumped back into the power grid, much in the same way that solar energy is now.

The subject fascinates me so I’ve been searching all media for news and views. Most interesting was the search that turned up a different kind of Bloom Box which is a ‘growing room’ for hydroponics and while I would guess that most of them are used for starting seeds for vegetables my mind couldn’t help but wander to the leafy plants which so many have taken to growing at home and for California’s hot ‘growth industry’.

Just the thought of it reminded me of that old favorite “California Dreamin”. Then it dawned on me that all of the companies who are testing this technology are doing it in California where Governor Schwarzenegger has proposed tax incentives for plant equipment purchased by manufacturers of alternative energy. The goal is for job growth and motivation for businesses to come to California.

Now I don’t know which Bloom Box will create more income for the state but I do know that incentives for green business and the creation of jobs is what this planet needs.