NRI scientist prepares clean power generation wonder box
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NRI scientist prepares clean power generation wonder box
Washington: India born scientist and CEO, KR Sridhar will provide a sneak peek at a clean and efficient model of power generation-in-a-box that could eliminate the traditional grid and challenge monopolies, reports Economic Times. According to his supporters, KR Sridhar's "Bloom box," scheduled for a big-splash unveiling in Silicon Valley on Wednesday, could be the answer to the world's energy quest. Even skeptics agree that it is a unique "power-plant-in-a-box." Sridhar's Bloom Box can crank out in a fraction of the footprint, the very same thing that acres of power grid can generate The project is already implemented by Google and eBay among others. FedEx, Wal-Mart and Staples are among the Fortune 100 companies that have signed up as clients. Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, is among those who endorse the technology, and is also on the Board of Directors of Sridhar's Bloom Energy, an eight-year old stealth startup that raised more than $400 million from Silicon Valley's venture capitalists at a time the region's economy was in a tail-spin. TheBloom Box claims to be a game-changing fuel cell device that consists of a stack of ceramic disks coated with secret green and black inks. "The disks are separated by cheap metal plates. Stacking the ceramic disks into a bread loaf-sized unit," says Sridhar, can produce one kilowatt of electricity, enough to power an American home - or four Indian homes. The unit can be scaled up, installed anywhere, and be connected to an electrical grid just like you would connect your PC to the Internet. Hydrocarbons such as natural gas or biofuel (stored separately) are pumped into the Bloom Box to produce clean, scaled-up, and reliable electricity. Dr KR Sridhar, 49, prior to founding Bloom Energy, was a Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering as well as Director of the Space Technologies Laboratory (STL) at the University of Arizona. He is also a rocket scientist, having served as an advisor to NASA in the areas of nanotechnology and planetary missions. Sridhar initially developed the idea behind the Bloom Box while working with NASA, as a means of producing oxygen for astronauts landing on Mars.