The FUTURE is almost here guys(& gals). Energy Independence is within sight and Google may be leading the way.
Did you know that
Google has taken steps to become a utility with the new ability to buy and sell power (like Enron). Google is also very heavily invested in green energy production (Solar, Wind, etc etc.) and are hoping to one day be completely self sufficient. Take that knowledge and combine it with the fact that they were the first to jump on this new tech, and you have your self-sufficient Google who may one day be providing us with everything that has to do with anything.
The Bloom Box: A Power Plant for the HomeThose two blocks can power the average high-consumption American home -- one block can power the average European home. At least that's the claim being made by K.R. Sridhar, founder of Bloom Energy, on 60 Minutes last night. The original technology comes from an oxygen generator meant for a scrapped NASA Mars program that's been converted, with the help of an estimated $400 million in private funding, into a fuel cell. Bloom's design feeds oxygen into one side of a cell while fuel (natural gas, bio gas from landfill waste, solar, etc) is supplied to the other side to provide the chemical reaction required for power. The cells themselves are inexpensive ceramic disks painted with a secret green "ink" on one side and a black "ink" on the other. The disks are separated by a cheap metal alloy, instead of more precious metals like platinum, and stacked into a cube of varying capabilities -- a stack of 64 can power a small business like Starbucks.
Now get this, skeptics: there are already several corporate customers using refrigerator-sized Bloom Boxes. The corporate-sized cells cost $700,000 to $800,000 and are installed at 20 customers you've already heard of including FedEx and Wal-mart -- Google was first to this green energy party, using its Bloom Boxes to power a data center for the last 18 months. Ebay has installed its boxes on the front lawn of its San Jose location. It estimates to receive almost 15% of its energy needs from Bloom, saving about $100,000 since installing its five boxes 9 months ago -- an estimate we assume doesn't factor in the millions Ebay paid for the boxes themselves. Bloom makes about one box a day at the moment and believes that within 5 to 10 years it can drive down the cost to about $3,000 to make it suitable for home use. Sounds awfully aggressive to us. Nevertheless, Bloom Energy will go public with details on Wednesday -- until then, check the 60 Minutes sneak peek after the break.
videoThis is exciting news since if you think about how soon this could change everything.
Electric cars with solar panels on the roof powering themselves indefinitely. No more electric bill at the house, or atleast severely reduced.
But back to the Google link; There are also studies of delivering High Speed Internet over power lines. Could Google be looking to provide internet and power to your google powered search/browser/OS/Computer?
Topic: Holy Crap! *New Tech/Gadget Thread* (Read 189472 times)
