PG&E Shrugs Off the Hyped-Up Bloom Box

The hottest thing in alternative energy right now is the Bloom Box. That clever, standalone fuel cell that its creators say could erase the need for grid-tied energy systems, power lines and even utilities. Since its revelation on 60 Minutes last month, followed by a much-hyped presentation at eBay headquarters in Silicon Valley, the Bloom Box has received a lot of attention. Enough, you would think, to make utilities nervous. After all, they can’t very well make money if nobody’s connected to their electric grid.

Pish-posh, says Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), a major investor-owned utility serving northern California and a leader in renewable energy. CEO Peter Darbee insists that the release of the Bloom Box does not signal the end of the utility. Bloom Energy, maker of the Bloom Box, wants to see one of their models in every home and business, thus annihilating utilities. Darbee countered that notion by simply pointing to costs. He says the Bloom Box is more expensive than solar power and other renewable resources and therefore has little chance of driving utilities into oblivion.

Darbee noted that there is still a big gap between current electricity prices and the prices that Bloom Energy was suggesting on 60 Minutes. Solar power costs are dropping and, while Bloom may be able to bring costs down eventually, as yet the electricity prices that Bloom is able to offer its customers are much more expensive than other renewables.

Bloom Boxes are fuel cells that use ceramic disks and special black “inks” to convert hydrocarbons (typically methane) and oxygen into usable energy. eBay has five of the boxes installed at its headquarters and claims to have saved some $100,000 on energy costs in just nine months. Bloom Energy bills their boxes as cheaper than solar power, a statement that PG&E shrugs off as simply not true… at least not in California. Darbee added that he expects to see “incursions” of fuel cell technology, but in no way is that a harbinger of demise for the utility.

Via San Francisco Business Times

Photo Credit: mocha gala & Christian Science Monitor

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PG&E Shrugs Off the Hyped-Up Bloom Box