Sridhar, Bloom and energy ..

Will this be an end to the power crisis of the world or will it get blown off like any other technology ? The fact that it has been in use at Google and Ebay for the last one year , gives us some hope that this is real technology from an NRI Sridhar, 49 years of age, Uty of Madras Mechanical Engineer ..

http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?author=236

http://www.oifc.in/Article/Overseas-Indian-American-rocket-scientist-'nanoforms'-power-plants-to-boxes

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/indians-abroad/Bloom-or-bust-moment-for-NRIs-green-power-technology/articleshow/5610216.cms

Quote from TOI : Sridhar's technology centers round a floppy-disk sized ceramic tile coated with a secret "sauce" (both propriety technologies) that are stacked together into bread-loaf sized boxes which in-turn can be scaled up to the size of a refrigerator. When fossil fuels like natural gas or renewable like bio-gas are fed into this Bloom Box, it combines with oxygen to create a chemical reaction that produces electricity, with no need for power lines from an outside source. Several such boxes are working in Google, eBay and other well-known US firms to much acclaim and minimum problems. 

So what's the big deal, since the Bloom Box still needs fuel – and why not use the fuel directly to product electricity as is traditionally done? Well, simply put, the Bloom Box produces more bang (electricity) for the buck (fuel). The precise numbers haven't been provided, but roughly, the Bloom Box is said to produce double the amount of electricity the same fuel can produce by traditional methods. Plus there is savings in terms of real estate and infrastructure. 

According to eBay CEO John Donohoe, the company uses five Bloom Boxes that run on landfill waste-based bio-gas and generate more power than the company's 3,000 solar panels. A four-unit box, using natural gas, has been powering a Google data center for 18 months. Ball-park calculations indicate that a 30,000-square-foot office building would use four of these boxes, each costing between $ 700,000 to $ 800,000. The unknown factors include how much fuel it uses, wear and tear, and maintenance. " Unquote.

ge..