The object is measuring only four inches but everyone is talking about it. The Bloom Box is a small cube that would be capable of producing electricity for a house via an electro-chemical reaction between oxygen and fuel (natural gas, biogas …). after eight long years of conception the start-up Bloom Energy came up with silicon box that differs from conventional fuel cell with its “solid oxide” technology. A Specificity that allows it to avoid the use of expensive materials -- such as platinum -- and makes it accessible to everyone.

right now the technology of Bloom Energy produces with the same quantity of carbon approximately twice as much electricity as a conventional thermal power plant. the difference of emission is around 20% for the most modern plants. Better still, the environmental asset of the Bloom box could be boosted by the use of biogas from the waste dumps , a solution already adopter for example by ebay , one of the first customers of the Californian start-up. Eventually, Bloom Energy could even use solar energy to make the chemical reaction of its fuel cell. But this won’t be possible before 2020.

Compete with wind and solar energy .

Despite these promises, Bloom Box is not immune to criticism. Bloom Energy has announced that the kilowatt-hours from the battery would be between 8 to 10 cents per dollar, less than electricity coal estimated at 11 cents per kilowatt hour on average, but specialist think that this is simply impossible.

Doubts are also on the commercial potential of the Box Bloom. According to some experts, the market for fuel cells for home will be attracting only after 10 years. Until then, the idea of Bloom Energy is therefore proposing large box to share with all residents of a neighborhood. Wal-Mart, Google, Fed-Ex and Coca-Cola already uses this type of “servers” to fulfill their electricity needs. Even if the price of this solution announced between 700 000 and 800 000 dollars, these companies have made thousands of dollars in savings on their electricity bills. Successful experiments have convinced Arnold Schwarzenegger to participate in the presentation of the Bloom Box. The Governor of California also added that this technology will revolutionize the energy industry.