Tech brreakthrough fuel cel
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Real and available stand alone fuel cel module.
http://www.architectmagazine.com/blogs/postdetails.aspx?BlogId=opecoblog&PostId=92903
http://bloomenergy.com/products/solid-oxide-fuel-cell/100 MW that will fit in a parking space.
No info on cost but looks very interesting.
dtr
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Thanks for this. We are working with a very remote First Nations Group on the North Coast of British Columbia, and this would be perfect for them.
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@dtrarch said:
Real and available stand alone fuel cel module.
http://www.architectmagazine.com/blogs/postdetails.aspx?BlogId=opecoblog&PostId=92903
http://bloomenergy.com/products/solid-oxide-fuel-cell/100 MW that will fit in a parking space.
No info on cost but looks very interesting.
dtr
I checked into this "BloomBox". Nowhere does the inventor divulge what fuel it uses. In fact he says in different articles that it A) uses solar energy, B) emits no CO2.
The only thing that is constant in any report is that it uses sand (cheap), is stackable (innovative?), and costs a lot.
Well, Fuel cells do not use solar. Fuel cells combine oxygen (from the air) with a fuel, either hydrogen or hydrocarbon based in the presence of a catalyst. If the fuel is hydrogen, then yes, no CO2 emissions, only pure water. ALL hydrocarbon/oxygen reactions produce CO2 and other gasses, as well as heat. That is Chemistry 101.
It uses sand. So does your computer. Sand is mostly silicon. He uses a wafer made of sand and some catalyst material combined in his proprietary way and that is the fuel cell reactor. Big deal. ALL fuel cells use a wafer or matrix of some kind with a catalyst to enable the reaction.
ALL fuel cells stack their wafered reactors to multiply the power output. Some are big (like Ballard Power) and some small, like his. The size itself is not the issue, a wafer can be just about any size, governed by manufacturing and cost considerations. And stacking is fundamental to achieving desired power output.
The fact it costs a lot does not surprise me. But if sand is so plentiful and cheap, why does BloomBox cost a lot?
So when they come clean on how a BloomBox actually works, what fuel it uses, its efficiency and life cycle costs, plus why his is better than, say Ballard, then he may have something to sell.
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Found this on "engadget"
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This may be similar to the Baxi system which I believe uses Ballard technology. The thing to note is that the BloomBox seems to be a co-generation system like the Baxi, in the sense it requires natural gas (or bio fuels)as co-gen power, so it's efficiency will likely be in the 70% range. Still a good step forward, but a long way to go. http://www.baxi-innotech.de/index.php?id=home&lang=1
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