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Fuel Cell Hype and Hopes
spectrum.ieee.org ^ | February 25, 2010 | Peter Fairley

Posted on 02/26/2010 10:29:48 PM PST by neverdem

Fuel cells deserved to hit the headlines this week, but not the way that it played out. The big splash came thanks to CBS News' 60 MINUTES and heavy hyping of a stationary fuel cell developer emerging from stealth-mode development. More surprising, and of real significance, was a projection yesterday by Pike Research that fuel cell-equipped vehicles will go commercial in just 4 years.

The problem with Bloom Energy's Bloom Box stationary fuel cell is that, despite 60 MINUTES' assertion that it might be the holy grail to free Americans shackled to a coal-fired grid, the company has yet to deliver a product. Moreover, the technology is hardly new.

The Bloom Box will use stacks of solid oxide fuel cells to electrochemically turn natural gas into power, eliminating the pollution that comes with fuel combustion. Some fuel cell experts have been blistering in their criticism of Bloom and its hypers. "I'm actually pretty pissed off about it, to be quite honest," is how Nigel Sammes, an SOFC expert at the Colorado School of Mines, expressed his emotions on the Bloom Box to National Geographic. "It really is nothing new. Go to any [SOFC] Web site and you'll see the same stuff."

It's also a market that has been tried before. In fact, more than 200 stationary fuel cell generators were already operating a decade ago when United Technologies first raised the technology's profile, installing a pair in NYC's Four Times Square office tower--an early development in what's since become a green building craze (see Energy to Count On from the August 17, 1999 issue of the New York Times). The 200-kW generators, using an older phosphoric acid electroyte design, generate enough power the tower's nighttime electric demand, and turning waste heat into space and water heating...

(Excerpt) Read more at spectrum.ieee.org ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; Technical
KEYWORDS: bloombox; bloomboxes; fuelcells; sofc

1 posted on 02/26/2010 10:29:49 PM PST by neverdem
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To: neverdem

I saw some of that hype and realized it was hype when they said it wouldn’t be available for 10 to 12 years. That told me that it was probably vapor-cells.

But the article mentioned freezing in cold weather. Wouldn’t a simple solution be to have the fuel cell self heat?


2 posted on 02/26/2010 10:52:22 PM PST by DannyTN
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To: neverdem

The best methanol fuel cell can run 3000 hours total using laboratory level purity methanol fuel before the fuel cell stack must be replaced due to clogging as impurities in the air are sucked into the system causing side reactions/residuals. Byproduct of water forming ice in the cell must be resolved during cold temperature starting of vehicle.


3 posted on 02/26/2010 10:56:50 PM PST by Fee (Peace, prosperity, jobs and common sense)
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To: Fee

these fuel cells have been active for the last couple years at a number of companies in silicon valley.


4 posted on 02/26/2010 11:02:56 PM PST by ckilmer (Phi)
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To: neverdem
my dream of a fuel cell would be one whereby you can fill up with any hydrocarbon fuel (gasoline, kerosene, diesel, waste cooking oil) and it has a 'grid' that directly breaks down the fuel directly to electricity without producing much heat.

A 10 gallon tankful should produce 5kw at 220volts for approx 12-20 days.

5 posted on 02/26/2010 11:11:34 PM PST by prophetic (0Bama = 1 illegal president = 32 illegal, unconstitutional & unnecessary CZARS to do his job!!)
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To: DannyTN
Thay have prototypes working right now...

Thread:

Is the "Magic" Alternative Energy Bloom Box for Real? ( Developer is EX-NASA...)

6 posted on 02/27/2010 12:30:13 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach ( Support Geert Wilders)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
"Thay have prototypes working right now..."

A prototype is not a product. So the article is correct. LOTS of promising technologies fail at the prototype stage. The only thing unique about the "Bloom Box" is that they manged to convince 60 Minutes to do a story about them.

7 posted on 02/27/2010 3:02:56 AM PST by Wonder Warthog (The Hog of Steel (NRA))
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To: neverdem

I thought I read somewhere there was a power source which would utilize water as it’s “fuel” and work by extracting the hydrogen from the water as the source of energy and having as a by product the oxygen molecules.


8 posted on 02/27/2010 3:19:24 AM PST by 101voodoo
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To: neverdem

Meanwhile the US Patent Office continues to lie
and deceive the American public.

Controlled by the IAEA and the DNC, the USPTO
will NEVER allow alternative energy patent applications
to go anywhere but to China and the IAEA Islamic countries.

Those involved should be indicted, convicted and imprisoned.
Names to follow.


9 posted on 02/27/2010 4:00:30 AM PST by Diogenesis ("Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God." --Thomas Jefferson)
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To: neverdem

“the company has yet to deliver a product”

Not true. Bloom has some of it’s boxes running at several locations and they have been operating for a couple of years.


10 posted on 02/27/2010 4:28:36 AM PST by saganite (What happens to taglines? Is there a termination date?)
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To: saganite

http://www.microfueler.com/t-technology.aspx

I have a friend who distributes these systems in the Grand Rapids MI market.


11 posted on 02/27/2010 5:24:58 AM PST by Michigan Bowhunter (Democrat socialist liberal scumbags.....how did we let this happen!)
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Nigel Sammes, an SOFC expert

Sammes runs neck and neck with fellow ripoff artist Marconi in the "expert" race.

There's a reason why Sammes is at the School of Mines and not in the industry developing product.

12 posted on 02/27/2010 6:00:30 AM PST by A.A. Cunningham (Barry Soetoro is a Kenyan communist)
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btrl


13 posted on 02/27/2010 8:39:22 AM PST by Clinging Bitterly (We need to limit political office holders to two terms. One in office, and one in prison.)
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To: saganite
Not true. Bloom has some of it’s boxes running at several locations and they have been operating for a couple of years.

"If stationary fuel cell's haven't taken off it's because they produce power at higher cost than the grid, and there's no evidence that the Bloom Box will fix that. Cost estimates given by Bloom of 8-9 cts/kwh include healthy subsidies that cut the price in half."

I don't want gov't picking winners and losers when they can't even control gov't spending.

14 posted on 02/27/2010 3:24:26 PM PST by neverdem (Xin loi minh oi)
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To: neverdem

They haven’t taken off because the technology to make them viable is just now arriving. The concept has been around for a very long time but the materials needed to make them hasn’t. Until now.


15 posted on 02/27/2010 5:48:12 PM PST by saganite (What happens to taglines? Is there a termination date?)
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