If you’re not utterly bored with the Bloom Energy story already, read Chris Nelder’s take on it, which among other things points out that the potential of the technology, while interesting, is not especially unique and is far from promising a revolutionary clean, fossil fuel-free future:
The main effect of the device would be to transfer some of the power generation load off centralized coal plants and onto distributed natural gas plants.
Few customers — and probably only commercial and industrial ones, at that — will have the option of running it on biogas or landfill gas. For the slightly more than half of the homes in the U.S. that even have a natural gas line, it won’t make economic sense.
Nelder is familiar with both tech and energy industries and makes a similar point to the one we made last week: Silicon Valley doesn’t really understand the scale of the energy challenge:
But I also know that the ingrained optimism of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs — as much as I love them — simply does not translate to the challenge of generating or saving hard BTUs. No single technology will save us. Moore’s Law does not apply here. The history of energy is littered with the bodies of enterprising souls just like them.
Related links:
Four things Bloom Energy forgot to tell the world (IDC Energy)
Bloom and gloom (FT Energy Source)
