ryck'Z rantZ: The Bloom May Be Off the Bloom Box Fuel Cell because the Politicians Cluster Around. A Farce in the Making?

Monday, October 15, 2012

The Bloom May Be Off the Bloom Box Fuel Cell because the Politicians Cluster Around. A Farce in the Making?

Revised but Originally published 2.25.2010

Want to see a scam in the making? You have only to look for places where flocks of politicians cluster to get some face time and show their feathers. The scam usually unfolds by first offering something that is too good to be true and then the suckers are all serviced by attendant groupies trained in both bordello and political tactics until the bloom is off the onion, economic realities set in, and the suckers can face the Magic Mirror on the wall without blushing.

Such a potential scam is roiling up in California over a new fuel cell that offers electricity at a fraction of the cost from the power grid. This new gadget may be a quantum leap beyond what we now have and many homes and businesses might well buy these and save on energy costs and also meet stringent emissions standards for pollutants and non pollutants such as carbon dioxide. We shall see. We should note that fuel cell technology dates back way beyond a hundred years.

First, we need to ask some hard questions and see if the barkers blush or evade the probes. If they turn tail and resort to bold rhetoric, wild promises or the testimony of politicians or attempt to hide critical costs then we know we are on our way to a Coney Island Freak Show. Let us reserve judgment and ask the pertinent questions and then wait for a response. We can then find out.

From previous experience:

“The quest for cheap energy by the rabid left has fashioned such follies as Cold Fusion [1], the counterfeit Bluewater Wind platforms[2] that might generate electricity at $ 0.12 per Kwh, probably more, while currently we get it form coal at $0 .03. Then there is the question of solar energy. The ugly facts here are that these ‘alternative’ forms of energy are very expensive and highly inefficient. A trip to Home Depot in 2006 to look at solar power systems for an average house shows that they could supply, at best, 25% of the power consumed in the home, about $600 worth of electricity per year in Mid Atlantic terms. But, this would cost $14,000 to install the solar collectors. That modification requires a 25 year payback period, which does not include financing, which could push it to 40 years. And, who would believe that such a device would even last 20 years? Those kinds of economics make sense to the political hacks at the New York Times. “It’s for the children.” Let us all freak out and bawl about global warming.”[3] Bluewater Windmill Follies has pushed up the cost to 14.75 cents now in Delaware.

Here is the potential chum:

“Computerworld - A Silicon Valley start-up is getting ready to unveil an energy device this week that executives say could one day power individual homes and businesses while replacing the traditional power grid.

“Bloom Energy, one of the 26 companies named in the World Economic Forum's list of top 2010 Tech Pioneers, took some of the wraps off its Bloom Box in a story that ran last night on the CBS TV newsmagazine60 Minutes.:” [4]-- Fuel cell of the future promises cleaner energy

By Glenn Chapman February 25, 2010 - 2:26PM

Here is the juicy claim:

“Electricity generated by Bloom servers costs about nine cents per kilowatt/hour as opposed to the 14 or 15 cents typically charged here by utilities.”-- Fuel cell of the future

Then, a few caveats start to be almost mentioned:

“The cost of the servers is recovered in three to five years by energy savings, Sridhar said. The servers are guaranteed for 10 years. Sridhar would not disclose the life spans of the fuel cells.”-- Fuel cell of the future [Emphasis is mine in all quotes.]

Now, we need to ask some serious questions:

[1] If the fuel cell can deliver at 9 cents can this efficiency be maintained at all levels of power load? According to the experts[5] the efficiency of the cell drops with power output. We need to see “…graphs of voltage versus current (so-called polarization curves)…” [for these] fuel cells. Are they available? What if the voltage drops at a mere 20% load and the cost rises above the average 9 cents? How high does it go? If we cannot depend on this device delivering electricity at a cost of 9 cents with a 90% load then this may be just another shiny walnut shell in the usual Three Card Monte game.[6]

[2] How long does this cell last? If we look at the financials of this device, the path to break even on a cost basis is the total cost of the device with installation and financing amortized over the expected lifetime of the device with repairs and component and periodic fuel replacements included in the calculations.

[3] Is it cost-effective everywhere? The average of the cost of electricity per Kwh in the entire United States is 11.76 cents per kilowatt-hour.[7] This is an average compiled from all US states that range in cost from a high of 26.45 in Hawaii, 19.17 in New York State, 14.75 in Delaware to 9.58 in Indiana, 8.39 in Missouri, and 8.15 in Idaho. California is 14.08 the highest on the West Coast.

What bothers me is the presence of Arnold and Powell as this circus celebration may turn out be just another Colonic Discharge[8] to soak the voters with another phony social program.

We need to press the makers of this cell for pertinent facts on costs and lifetimes and efficiency before we throw some more taxpayer’s money into the latrines.

rycK

Comments: ryckki@gmail.com