Bloom Box

Energy, no matter how much we can generate, we will still suffer from insufficient energy. But even if we can generate a lot of energy, the key is, how expensive is it. Not just that, we need it clean and no emission or radiation or anything harmful effects.

Now, there’s a breakthrough to this clean and inexpensive energy where a box which can be housed at the backyard generate sufficient energy for your daily usage and best of all, it’s wireless.

This will eliminate dependency on power plant where the cost keep getting more expensive and no more messy lines and wiring.

In a corresponding between Sridhar and Stahl, they were sharing the information about the capability of the box where it can power 4 to 6 homes in Asia, 1 home in US and 2 homes in Europe.

The thing was invented originally for NASA in the Mars mission for generating oxygen so that we can live there on Mars but it was scrapped. But no effort will be wasted, the process is reversed and instead of oxygen coming out, it’s the oxygen going in.

It’s a kind of fuel cell, albeit slimer version and always running taking oxygen at one side and fuel on the other. With the combination and chemical reaction, electricity is created.

So, the clean energy is an emerging market, and will be the largest economic opportunity in the century.

Sridhar has been hyper-secretive – there’s no sign on his building, a cryptic Web site, and no public progress reports.

Given the stealthiness, we were surprised when Sridhar showed us – for the very first time – how he makes the “secret sauce” of his fuel cell on the cheap.

He said he bakes sand and cuts it into little squares that are turned into a ceramic. Then he coats it with green and black “inks” that he developed.

Sridhar told Stahl there is a secret formula. “And you take that and you apply that. You paint that on either side of this white ceramic to get a green layer and a black layer. And…that’s it.”

Sridhar told Stahl the finished product, a skinny fuel cell, would generate power.

One disk powers one light bulb; the taller the stack of disks, the more power it generates. In between each disk there’s a metal plate, but instead of platinum, Sridhar uses a cheap metal alloy.

The stacks are the heart of the Bloom box: put 64 of them together and you get something big enough to power a Starbucks.

Sridhar offered to give Stahl a sneak peek inside the Bloom box.

“All those modules that we saw go into this big box. Fuel goes in, air goes in, out comes electricity,” he explained.

Amazing stuff! I would one day, having my own energy at my own backyard.