Fuel cells have been a tantilizing technolgy for decades – powering space vehicles, but always a little out of reach for domestic or commercial use. I worked with Greenopolis Partner Plug Powerfor years – working to provide clean on site energy from hydrogen powered fuel cells. Now there’s the Bloom Box.

 

That’s not a typo for a new carry-on-your shoulder stereo system. The Bloom Box is a refrigerator-sized box that can power your whole house, store or business.

Bloom Energy is a venture capital funded firm that builds the “Bloom Box”- an appliance sized unit that houses fuel cells running on natural gas, landfill gas, bio-gas or solar power. Fuel cells combine hydrogen with oxygen and emit only heat, electricity and distilled water.

Google has been powering a datacenter with 4 Bloom Boxes running on natural gas for the past year and a half. eBay has 5 of them in San Jose, which they claim have saved them $100,000 in energy costs over the past 9 months.

The Bloom Box debuted on CBS’ 60 Minutes last night