Out of nowhere, Bloom Energy has surfaced.  With an exclusive interview on 60 Minutes, Bloom Energy has made headlines with their new invention, the Bloom Box.  This invention will either be the next Segway (complete flop), or will truly revolutionize the way people see energy.

Those 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.Source: www.engadget.com

The potential for such a source of energy is unlimited.  The video below goes into greater detail, but one of my doubts revolve around its need for some energy.  While it apparently utilizes substantially more efficiently than what exists today, this reliability will be a tough sell.  Likewise, also mentioned in the video, it seems only a matter of time before competition becomes extremely stiff.  While the concept is revolutionary, Bloom Energy may not be the true distributor in 10 years.

Take a look at the video for more info.

With the official release of Bloom Box just 24 hours away, this will be an interesting event to watch.