Comments on: Adobe Systems Gets Clean Energy from Gigantic “Bloom Box” Fuel Cells

By: Tina Casey

Tina Casey — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 03:11:25 +0000

Jim: …or biogas.

By: jim

jim — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 03:08:11 +0000

Enough about Bloom already. I need a fuel cell that will generate electric power AND heat for my house, made by a reputable company. Running off natural gas.

By: Jon_K

Jon_K — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 06:15:05 +0000

Fuel cells can be green or brown. It all depends on the fuel they use. Most fuel cells are powered by a fossil fuel, natural gas. They vent C02. That’s only a little bit greener than producing electricity by burning natural gas, greener because the fuel cells are more efficient. It’s less green (by a lot) than hydro power, solar, or wind.

To be really green they have to consume something else. In Adobe’s case that’s methane vented from a landfill. That is green, bright green.

By: Tina Casey

Tina Casey — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 02:53:06 +0000

Bill: Excellent point. The boxes can also run on reclaimed landfill gas, though.

By: Ben

Ben — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 23:19:00 +0000

No one ever talks dollars when talking about bloom boxes. How much does this energy cost per kilowatt hour adding in the cost of the unit and the gas?

By: Bill Walker

Bill Walker — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 19:23:20 +0000

Of course, the Bloom Boxes use natural gas as their fuel, so they’re still running on fossil fuels, and emit 773 lbs of CO2 per Megawatt-hour (see http://www.bloomenergy.com/products/data-sheet/). They’re hardly emissions-free.