Monday, February 22, 2010

Bloom Box - The Future of Electricity?

An electricity generating box that is inexpensive, clean, emissions-free, wireless, off-grid, and could one day sit in your backyard to power your home??? Check out the video.


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11 comments:

  1. Thanks to Wil for bringing this to my attention!

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  2. I am very excited about this new technology. If what K.R. Sridhar, the inventor, says is true, it will be a miracle for the environmental world. It will produce electricity at a cheap, efficient way. Even though you do have to use fossil fuel to combine with the oxygen to create the electricity, the common fuel used, natural gas, is in far more abundance these days than oil because up until now, most power plants primarily used oil and coal. Although some people are skeptical about this new technology, I think everyone should give it a chance. People were skeptical about automobiles upon their first appearance, but now, it’s nearly impossible not to go anywhere around a small town like Clover and not see at least 5 cars. If Sridhar really has created something this efficient and life changing for the whole world, I predict it will be as common as cars in the next century, if not sooner.

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  3. When I saw this in class, it gave me a lot of expectations and hope for our future in electricity. However, the class discussion brought out many opinions that I had not considered. Now, I am more skeptical about whether the Bloom Boxes will actually work if the cost is reduced enough for the everyday household to afford it. Another big concern is whether this is all just hype about going green, because other green products have not really caught on with the general population. In time, we will know if these uncertainties about the Bloom Boxes can be erased. Someone in class brought up the point of the job losses that would occur if Bloom Boxes became America's primary source of electricity. That is one problem that I cannot really see an end to. With the way jobs are now, many will not agree that job losses are a fair price to pay for cleaner air. With the small amount of people it takes to create, fix, and install a Bloom Box, job losses in the electrical companies are inevitable. Perhaps if the Bloom Boxes are sold to electrical companies and people can learn to adapt, not quite as many people will be fired. Still, if Bloom Boxes catch on, they will have a lot of business for, say, 10 years. Then, most people will have the Boxes and the only work that needs to be done would be installing them in new houses and fixing them in others. I am hopeful for the Bloom Boxes, but am skeptical of their impact on our economy.

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  4. Who wouldn’t want a Bloom Box powering there house if it didn’t cost as much. I understand were many people are coming from on the cost of this box and also what some people could lose because of this. From what they were saying on the video it would be affordable for people. But what they aren’t realizing its that people don’t have money just lying around like that, on the other hand if you do get one imagine how much you could save on electricity with this it might take a couple of years to get the money you spent of it back but I think it would be worth it. Now to get to the other problem it is what people could lose and by that I mean jobs. If they would use the electricians out there to install the boxes and if there are any problems they could fix them then not many people would lose there jobs and that would solve that problem. If this did come out to the public in the future I will surely get one.

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  5. I also think is a great step high in the technology world as well as environmental. and what Will said is true it will be a miracle for the environmental world. It will produce electricity at a cheap, efficient way and this will reduce the use of coal and oil. Probably electric companies will take this as a challenge in price and everything else. I agree with Will 100% about everything he has said and realy do think that everyone should give the Bloom Box a chance. And also believe that the Bloom Box will end up in every house hold in America.

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  6. I agree with Wil, but not 100%. I do think that this is a GREAT idea and that these will become common within the next 10 years or so, but I think that they will need a little more work and planning before they really catch on. First the price needs to drop so that the average American household can afford it! I'm still puzzled about the job situation though. Imagine that Bloom Boxes suddenly dropped to $3,000 a box and everyone in Clover/Lake Wylie got one. What would happen to the employees at the Duke Power Plant? Most of those employees would be fired except for the ones who could be trained to fix the Boxes if there were any problems. I can't think of a solution to fix the job situation, and I'm unsure if anyone can think of a resolution. Plus, the Bloom Boxes require fuel. What kind of fuel, how much fuel does it require, and how much will the fuel cost to power it? Before I buy a Bloom Box, I'd like to know every detail, more than those just provided in the video. Other than that, I think the Bloom Box is a great conception and I hope to see them be successful.

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  7. The bloom box is a great idea for corporations and other large associations, but at the time being, it will not help the average household. As time progresses and the technology becomes cheaper than it will be truly environmentally friendly. It may be environmentally sound, but it is not economically sound. It is a great idea, but it may just be wishful thinking in the end.

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  8. I think this is a good idea but it will take a long time to get everybody to use it as their main power source. This could be a great help to our envirmental problems. I think the box has pros and cons. Theres to many questions that haven't been answered. Like will it really have as much cost difference they say it will considering fuel cost? Or are they going to come up with away so the electric companys don't just lose all their jobs? If they can answer all the questions like this and make it so that the box benifits the people then i think it would be a great step to going green.

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  9. I still believe that this is a good way to replace the electric companies but now that I thought about it I don't think is going to be that easy to replace electric companies just because there is always going to be someone who can not afford the the Bloom Box and just have to stick with the electric companies and I don't think it woul be such a good idea also to replace electric companies, yes, they are horrible for the environment but they also try to help by encouraging people to switch to energy saving lightbulbs. Those little thinks help the environment even a little, but the fact is that there are still some people who will not settle for the Bloom Box, some just because and some because they can't afford it.

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  10. I am very hopeful that the Bloom Box is the future of electricity. I think the idea of the Bloom Box replacing power plants and other sources of electricity to be a very significant step towards a more environmentally friendly process. However, they are making very bold statements saying that it is “inexpensive, clean, emissions-free, wireless, off-grid, and could one day sit in your backyard to power your home”. There are just a few things I am skeptical about such as the cost. If the Bloom Box could be proven to power a home and cost only around $1000 or less and produce electricity cheaply, then it would definitely become the most efficient source of electricity. But in the video K.R. Sridhar said the box is roughly around $800,000 for a big corporation and that is way too expensive and they haven’t even tested a Bloom Box on households, just large companies. One last thing I wonder about is it states the Bloom Box is “emissions-free” but yet still needs natural gases to fuel it? What does it release into the air if it still uses these gases? I think much more research needs to be done to better the Bloom Box before it can become the future of electricity.

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  11. I think the bloom box will be a great success for new alternative energy. Hopefully one day it will replace the large power plants we have today that is polluting our enviroment. But right now the only big companys can afford it because of the price. There still alot of controversy about the bloom box. I have a few questons about what will happen to the jobs from the tradional power plants. Will it creat enough jobs that the power companys produce today.

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