Scotty, We Need More Power!

By Alan

This was the rally cry from Captain Kirk of the Starship Enterprise to the Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott, typically when the Enterprise, or Starfleet, or Earth, or the entire Universe was in danger of being destroyed, and true to his efforts, the hardworking Scottish engineer manages something to save the day. Sure Kirk could find excuses to tear his shirt, kiss alien women, and give flying kicks to any opponent into next week, but Scotty saved the ship more often than anybody, and worked on a weapon bigger than anyone else. Anywhere.

But, the concept of ultimate energy in Star Trek was using matter and anti-matter fed (very carefully) into a reaction chamber and getting power out of it. Presumably that power was electricity.

Well, the hot topic in the news right now is Bloom Energy Servers, which are designed as modular fuel cell systems. A number of larger companies have started using the prototypes at the large scale. Obviously there is some promise of success if companies like Google, Coca-Cola, Bank of America, Staples, eBay, Cox Enterprises, Walmart and FedEx are involved.

What are these things?

Fuel cells are an old concept that use a chemical reaction to take oxygen ions from some kind of fuel source (normally natural gas) and generate electricity directly. They are an old concept, but they require precise manufacturing techniques to make them economical and long lasting, and the expense of creating large enough fuel cells make it prohibitive for most consumers. Bloom Energy seems to have overcome that major problem by linking lots and lots of little modules together to make bigger generators.

Mashable did a nice piece on the launching press conference by Bloom Energy on February 24, 2010, and a set of articles following with videos and other explanations.

The New York Times ran a couple articles on the launch and technology behind the promise of Bloom.

When will these show up?

The CEO hopes to have them available in about 10 years, with a brick sized generator powering residential houses. That's a prediction, and probably a bit of hope on their part.

Are these things worth it?

WattHead published an article that did some close examination to how expensive or cheap the electricity powered by Bloom boxes would be. Right now, the large sized devices are about $800,000, and would only be useful for super sized power consumers, like a small town or a massive data centers for computer companies. The goal is to try to get consumer devices down to $3,000 for a household sized generator in that 10 year time frame.

And of course, recently, the naysayers have showed up and started discussing why Bloom Energy devices might not be all that useful, economical, or maybe won't even work.

What else is new?

Keep an eye on this. Along with some other interesting technologies for solid fuel systems, and the possibilities for Bill Gate's TED dream about TerraPower, there are some bright futures ahead.

Comments

[Bridget]

Beam me up! Thanks for the info, Alan.