Bloom Energy: This Handheld Can Power a House

Today’s Press Conference (February 24, 2010)

For Full Story About Bloom Box (Click Here): THIS HAND HELD CAN POWER A HOUSE

THE BLOOM BOX is a ground-breaking fuel cell start up company (founded in 2002) that has generated a lot of venture capital and media buzz recently. The company has been testing and refining its stand alone fuel generating capabilities for the past few years at several large corporate headquarters, including eBay (EBAY), Google (GOOG), Wal-Mart (WMT), FedEx (FDX), and Staples (SPLS). Bloom Box’s chief scientist and company co-founder, KR Sridhar (see bio below), a 49-year-old scientist-turned entrepreneur,  was profiled on the popular CBS TV show 60 Minutes this past weekend (2-21-10) to build excitement for an all-star, corporate news breaking event on Wednesday (February 24, 2010) at eBay (EBAY) headquarters in San Jose in Silicon Valley.

Testimonials:

1. Patrick Pichette (CFO of Google) included. “For us it’s been really transformative…” he said. Google’s Bloom Box is powering an R&D center.
2. Simon (of Wal-Mart): Bloom Boxes are carrying 60-80% of our energy needs at peak in the buildings where they’re installed.
3. Coke’s President Brian Kelly: We have aggressive goals. We need clean, reliable energy sources that meet customer and community demand. One of the very aggressive goals we have is to measured our carbon footprint and want to reduce it by 2015 . Bloom box is powering a 1/3 of an Odwalla plant.
4. Rob Carter CIO and executive VP @ FedEx. –what was the idea of putting this in our Oakland, CA hub?
   A: We wanted to change the way the world works. This is something cool. Bloom array matches the power of the solar, and is helping us get 100% off the grid.
5. Bill Simon of Wal-Mart. What led you to decide to put these in your operation?
   A: Simon: We aspire to power our buildings in the 100% renewable energy. And in order to do that, it has to be profitable–first and foremost. This is an opportunity to do both those things. We also have scale. The opportunity to provide it for everyone at less cost is a goal of ours.
6. eBay chief John Donahoe says Bloom is “disruptive” just like eBay was. We put solar in, 65,000 feet of it, which powers 18% of our campus on peak. But then we ran into Bloom. Put it in last July, and it’s powering 15% off those 5 boxes.

Q: WSJ asks “have you conducted third party cost analysis?”
Sridhar: Customer proof points. Public companies, costs have been scanned. 10 year life that’s warrantied through Bloom Energy.

Q: NBC asks “is there a particular kWh cost?
Sridhar: Says $.09-.10 per kwh. Customers save compared to grid.

Q: Forbes asks ‘Does $.09-.10 include CA tax cut?
Sridhar says it includes all of the costs. And that no systems installed outside of CA.