It's all good. It does sound great, don't get me wrong. But one thing bugs me: If NASA funded this research, where is my cut if it goes IPO? I'm a taxpayer, after all. If this was funded by GE, you think that guy in the interview would be smiling so much?
This won't do much for our dependence on oil. We only use less than 1% of our oil for electicity generation. This will however increase the need for natural gas and with the governments opposition to drilling there is not going to enough of that either. Lcash
I believe NASA funded his research to reach a different objective - to produce oxygen. What he did on his own was to reverse the process, but yeah I agree we the consumers have benefited greatly from NASA/state sponsered research. Everytime I use my teflon frying pan I thank NASA...
The way I understood it. It was funded by the VC guy from Silicon Valley. The developer is ex NASA. In the big picture though, I afraid it will be bought and squashed.
Although they claim it will eliminate the power grid, there will need to be a fuel grid for these to become mainstream. Instead of investing in this Bloombox company, investing in gas companies may be a better route to take.
One of these things ran at UT Chattanooga for 6000 hours and was twice as efficient in producing electricity and hot water as a boiler based system. It is no more a scam than the silicon chips that are in your computer. In fact the tiles are considerably simpler than those. Let me guess. You have NEVER commercialized a product more complicated than a bookend and would not know anything about how first unit costs compare to mature costs. Prototype production is very expensive because none of the steps is automated yet. Once the process is fully industrialized, this product can be sold for a PROFIT at $3000 per 5kw unit.
its a great find...however,...will be a decade before its active. I say, keep on the right path.....we need alternitive energy sources like Bloomer and nati gas. Oil is gona be a hella of a drug in the future, with prices well above anyone's want. We will need to secure our future by filling in the gap when oil trades above 300. Oil industry is behind alternitive energy....for a reason.
The story listed an assortment of possible fuels - oil, gas, ethanol, etc. It seems that homes with septic tanks might be efficient candidates once the price point is lowered in mass production.