By

Y.KARUNA REDDY
Vignans Institute Of Information Technology Electrical And Electronics Engineering

WHO INTRODUCED THIS INNOVATIVE IDEA ? Mr.K.R.Sridhar, an Indian born Ph.D. used to work for NASA to develop technologies to sustain life on Mars. His company, Bloom has been working for a decade to produce the Bloom Box which was officially launched on 24 FEB 2010.

STRUGGLE FOR GREEN ENERGY

About Bloom Energy:- (power plant in a box)

Bloom Energy is a provider of breakthrough solid oxide fuel cell technology that generates clean, highly-efficient power onsite from virtually any fuel source(from natural gas to a wide range of biogases). Bloom Energys mission is to make clean, reliable energy affordable for everyone in the world. The Bloom Energy Server is currently producing power for several Fortune 500 companies.

The company says that its first 100 kW Bloom Energy Servers were shipped to Google in July 2008

What is an Energy Server?

Built with our patented solid oxide fuel cell technology, Bloom's Energy Server is a new class of distributed power generator, producing clean, reliable, affordable electricity at the customer site. Each Bloom Energy Server provides 100kW of power.

Energy Server Architecture

Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

There are similarities and differences between PEM and SOFC technology
Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) Polymer electrolyte Proton-conducting electrolyte Low temperature (~100C) Requires H2 fuel CO is a poison Needs good reforming/separation Precious-metal catalysts Low thermal inertia Fairly mature Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) Ceramic electrolyte Oxygen-ion conductor High temperature (~700C) Can use hydrocarbon fuel CO2 is not a poison May use reforming or CPOX Inexpensive catalysts Large thermal inertia In development

Technical Highlights
Inputs Fuels Fuel required @ rated power Water required (for startup only) Outputs Rated power output (AC) Electrical efficiency (LHV net AC) Electrical connection Emissions NOx SOx CO CO2 @ specified efficiency Natural Gas, Directed Biogas 0.661 MMBtu/hr of natural gas 120 gallons municipal water

100 kW > 50% 480V @ 60 Hz, 4-wire 3 phase

< 0.07 lbs/MW-hr negligible < 0.10 lbs/MW-hr 773 lbs/MW-hr on natural gas, carbon neutral on Directed Biogas

Bloom allows you to save money first. The efficiency built into Bloom's fuel cell systems allows a typical customer to achieve a 3-5 year financial payback making it an easy and economically sound choice. But the economics aren't the only story. Customers can also cut their CO2 emissions by 40%-100% compared to the U.S. grid (depending on their fuel choice) and virtually eliminate all SOx, NOx, and other harmful smog forming particulate emissions.

More Benefits & Applications

Power for every individual house with less cost. Unlike Fuel cells they can withstand high temperature Hydrogen Production and Non-polluting way of generation. To save money, the Bloom Energy Server uses inexpensive metal alloy plates for electric conductivity, where as in fuel cell platinum is used for electric conductivity.

Bloom Energy s Mission

Bloom Energy s Leading Customers

Bloom Installation 400kW July 2008 Mountain View, CA Results Over the first 18 months the project has had 98% availability and delivered 3.8 million kWh of electricity.

Bloom Installation 300kW December 2008 Ontario, CA

Bloom Installation 5kW Natural gas January 2006 Chattanooga, Tennessee

Some of the others

Objective Provide the majority of the power for its large facilities and distribution centers

Result The system was in operation for over 18 months providing 99% load availability.

Closing thoughts:Let us hope this technology will be available to ordinary customers with more efficiency And reduced costs. And also with the implementation of Bloom energy we can make sure that our Environment will suffer less. Twenty percent of the Bloom Energy Server cost savings depend upon avoiding transfer losses that result from energy grid use.
REFERENCES: http://www.bloomenergy.com/ www.wikipedia.com/bloom energy

queries please..