Washington: An Indian American rocket
scientist has invented a little power plant, which is being
hailed as an important breakthrough in the energy sector as it
is believed to replace the big power plants and transmission
lines.
Christened `Bloom Box`, it would be unveiled by K R
Sridhar in the Silicon Valley tomorrow, a preview of which was
given at the CBS’s popular show `60 Minutes` this weekend.
It is just like a laptop of the power sector, the CBS
reported.
Sridhar has formed the company Bloom Energy, which has
raised some USD 400 million from venture capitalists of the
Silicon Valley at a time when it is tough to get money during
days of economic recession.
Among its board of directors is the former Secretary
of State Collin Powell, who joined it last year.
Formerly a rocket scientist and served as advisor to
NASA, Sridhar says in 10 years or so `Bloom Box` for
residential areas would be available at USD 3,000 (less than
Rs 1.5 lakh) to produce electricity in a small home round the
clock year after year.
Having earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering from
the University of Madras, earlier he was a professor of
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering as well as Director of
the Space Technologies Laboratory (STL) at the University of
Arizona.
The key to this unique Bloom Box is the "fuel cell
device" which consists of a stack of ceramic disks coated with
secret green and black "inks." These disks are separated by
cheap metal plates.
John Donahoe, eBay`s CEO, told the CBS news that it
installed five Bloom Energy Boxes nine months ago and have
already saved the company more than USD 100,000 in electricity
costs.
"It`s been very successful thus far. They`ve done what
they said they would do," he said.
"The footprint for Bloom is much more efficient,"
Donahoe said. "When you average it over seven days a week, 24
hours a day, the Bloom box puts out five times as much power
that we can actually use," he told CBS.
Highly appreciate of the new technology, the former
Secretary of State Colin Powell: I think it is part of the
transformation of the energy system... I think the Bloom boxes
will make a significant contribution."
PTI
