Bloom Energy: “Close” to Unveiling Its Fuel Cell
The Kleiner Perkins crew graced the cover of the New York Times Sunday Magazine this weekend for Jon Gertner’s snapshot of how venture capitalists are betting big on the cleantech industry. It’s a solid overview of the state of the industry, and for those that have been following the cleantech world closely, it had a few juicy bits on Kleiner’s first cleantech investment, a still somewhat stealthy fuel-cell maker, Bloom Energy. The story says that out of Kleiner’s cleantech investments, Bloom Energy is one of the closest to unveiling a product — the startup “will almost certainly have a commercial product ready within a year or two,” according to the story.
The five-kilowatt Bloom box has supposedly become “a high-functioning machine,” and the story even shows a picture of the white refrigerator-looking box. In a successful test at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga over the past two years, engineers ran a Bloom box on natural gas for 6,000 hours and found it to be twice as efficient as a boiler burning natural gas, with 60 percent lower carbon emissions. Kleiner partner Aileen Lee told Gertner that the Bloom box can produce electricity using natural gas or a variety of liquid fuels, including ethanol.
The story also notes that it’s taken $250 million of investment and six years to get Bloom to where it is today — testing products, with 200 employees and one to two years from delivering a product. After interviewing Kleiner partner John Doerr about Bloom’s finances, Gertner writes that a Bloom IPO is probably another few years away. The company is unusually stealthy for such a mature firm, but it seems like it’s starting to open up a bit now that it’s getting closer to production. If Bloom really does have a commercial fuel cell ready within a year, and it performs as shown in initial testing, Kleiner’s sizable first foray into cleantech could be its first substantial hit.
You note:
“engineers ran a Bloom box on natural gas for 6,000 hours and found it to be twice as efficient as a boiler burning natural gas, with 60 percent lower carbon emissions.”
So, are they going to boil water with with this fuel cell device, or convert natgas electrochemically to electricity? Is that comparison relevant?
Seems like another trick by the garbage boys.
This technology is silly. When Solar Cells are introduced capable of powering homes, this technology will be obsolete. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Ride the wave while you can. Good stock pick for now.
Cogeneration of energy is the only way to achieve efficiency in excess of 60% using fossil fuels.
The Reinhardt Turbine piston turbine is a scalable multi-staged thermal power device that achieves over 60% efficiency… today. The machine cost is only $10 per KW of rated power.
The company refuses to work with financiers and is proud to fully display its working prototypes on its website.
Katie
good to meet you at Going Green Conf. You might be interested to read more from Bloom Energy. A new Fresh Dialogues interview with KR Sridhar will post tomorrow, Nov 4th.
Cheers Alison