The Serial Capitalist

Bloom Energy, the secretive eight year old company that raised nearly $400 million from Kleiner Perkins, has finally decided to introduce us to their game changing fuel cell device – The Bloom Box, an $800,000 power plant in a box.

As Bloom Energy founder K.R. Sridhar explained last night on 60 Minutes, the Bloom Box fuel cell is made of beach sand converted to ceramic disks, coated with special green and black ink. The disks are separated by an inexpensive metal alloy and are fueled by methane (or other hydrocarbons) and oxygen. They are then heated to 1,000 degrees Celsius producing clean electricity delivered without the use of power lines and with no emissions.

Bloom estimates that it would only take two cells to power the average size American home, with 64 cells having the juice to run a Starbucks 24 hours a day. Of course, with the price tag fluctuating between $700,000 and $800,000 Bloom won’t be installing too many of these boxes in residential homes just yet. They do however see the price dropping to under $3000 over the next 5 to 10 years putting a Bloom Box well within the budget of most home owners.

The Bloom Box is being used and tested by approximately 20 corporations (mostly based in California) with Google being Bloom’s first customer. In California, 20% of the Bloom Box’s cost is subsidized by the State with an additional 30% federal tax break for being a green technology. Some of their other customers include FedEx, Walmart and Staples. Ebay claims that the Bloom Box powers 15% of their San Jose campus and has saved them more than $100,000 in electricity cost in nine months.

The Bloom Box is not without it’s naysayers. Greentech Media writer Michael Kanellos doubts that Bloom can mass produce the box on the level their investors claim. He also cities durability and cost as some of his many other concerns. Supporters of the Bloom Box include former Secretary of State Colin Powell who recently joined Bloom’s board of directors.