Power Generation Technologies and Bloom Energy - Essay Example

Bloom energy With our growing understanding of science, new technologies are incessantly emerging and replacing existing technologies, in an attempt to simplify or enhance existing technology. Power generation technologies are becoming popular with the mounting necessity to generate clean energy round the clock. Bloom energy is one such clean power generation scheme which is designed to generate electricity as well as to store it. Having developed it recently, its designer, Dr. K.R. Sridhar, an Indian-born NASA scientist realized that this technology could have a greater impact on earth than in space. This technology was soon accepted by some of the leading companies such as Google, ebay, Walmart and many others. These solid oxide fuel cells produce energy that is 70% cleaner and 100% renewable. It is believed that a few years down the line, ‘Bloom’ might be a household name we reckon since it has considerable advantages over other renewable energy sources as well. An Idea becomes a Product Dr. K.R.Sridhar was part of a NASA workforce, attempting to come up with ideas to sustain life on mars. The first thing that occurred to him was the need for an energy source that would generate power and at the same time produce oxygen and hydrogen as a by product. The idea being, hydrogen could be used to power other hydrogen fuelled devices. With this idea in mind, they began working to produce a solid oxide fuel cell which did not comprise of expensive or rare metals but used a simple and highly available material, sand, to generate electricity. It does not contain corrosive or rare materials, making its availability rates rather high. On refining this idea, it occurred to the researcher that this technology could have a large impact on human growth in our planet, making the production of renewable and independent energy possible to everyone. The team decided that the technology which was available only in satellites would now be modified and made available to everyone. The system is designed to work not only as a power generator but also an energy storage unit which eliminates only a small percentage of carbon-di-oxide in comparison to the traditional power generation units which produce 50% more emissions. On completion of their NASA project, the team decided to continue their research and set out to work on transforming this remarkable idea into a product which would reach the world, making it a cleaner place. They worked on increasing its availability, efficiency and affordability. In 2001 they officially opened Bloom energy with their first client in 2002. By 2009, they had several leading companies reaching out to them to produce cleaner energy. Potential Impact on Existing Technology Bloom boxes intend to replace the traditional power grid, providing enough energy to cater to domestic purposes which would then make a make a power grid connection a supplement and not a necessity. This might be highly beneficial for energy consumers if Bloom energy can effectively reduce its size and cost as planned. This technology even has the potential to replace other fuel cell such as the hydrogen fuel cell, simply because it has a much simpler design, occupies less space and can easily be clustered or managed. The technology that is most affected by this technology would be solar energy production units as they do not have the capacity to provide sustained energy round the clock. Most people believe that bloom energy, which is a distributed generation, would be the enemies of public utilities and would cause them trouble in managing the scheme. Although it might seem highly plausible that bloom energy might become a monopoly in energy generation, it might be impracticable with the emergence of several new clean energy technologies. Once the costs are reduced as promised by the CEO of Bloom energy, people will begin to replace traditional energy grids with smart energy grids. With the introduction of more complex forms of hydrogen fuelled or electric automobiles, this technology can replace gas stations with recharging units. Since the technology is just a plain box with no noise or odor, just a box pumping electricity, it has possibilities of gaining consumers on a relatively large scale. Impact on existing products and managements strategies Bloom energy server is a technology which has the advantage of being wireless and convenient to install. Even in comparison to other renewable sources of energy, it has its advantages. It occupies little space, can be put away in the backyard or the basement, can be easily installed anywhere and does not require much maintenance. This technology also has the advantage of round the clock supply which might not be fulfilled by solar powering units. Most other power generating units simply focus on generation of energy from renewable resources, thus involving installation processes such as in the case of wind energy or solar energy. Customers of wind energy require the space of installation to fulfill certain specifications to get maximum output. These problems may be ruled out in the case of “Bloom Boxes”. Other energy generating schemes such as hydrogen fuel cells have also taken a hit with the introduction of the bloom energy technology. Management strategies would involve changes regarding how public utilities would handle the emergence of such a technology. They have handled independent power distribution in the case of wind energy and would require repeating such strategies in the case of other distributed generation schemes. Considering that public utilities are a natural monopoly, private sectors have been regulated by a public utilities commission, which might be possible in the case of having small sectors installed at houses or other domestic segments. It might be viable to install regulation segments covering a particular area and monitor the renewable energy production. Public utilities might also consider joining the distributed utilities system and themselves adopt the technology if this is what holds the future of our power generation schemes. It would then be important to have technical supportive since there would be no accompanying power source. Impact of Legislative and Economic Events Some of the key elements of The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 could potentially accelerate the growth of Bloom energy servers. The act requires the electric utilities of companies to meet 20% of their electricity demand through renewable efficiency. Since bloom energy is 100% renewable, it could prove to be useful to these companies. Since the act sets higher targets for reduction in emission, companies could cut down on power emissions by installing bloom energy servers. All electricity providers that provide more than 400 MWh are required to produce 20% through renewable sources. In such cases, Bloom energy could be used as an auxiliary energy supplier. The Obama- Biden comprehensive New Energy for American plan proposes to create five million jobs over the next ten years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future and obtain 10% percent of total energy from renewable sources. They intend to introduce one million hybrid plug cars on road by 2015. Both these objectives will greatly favor the growth of Bloom technology when the bill is passed. On the 11th of February 2010, leaders from the United States Climate Action Partnership were in Washington to talk with Members of Congress and the White House about the importance of passing a comprehensive climate and clean energy bill that will create jobs, improve the economy and promote energy independence. These legislative reforms promoting energy independence would greatly accelerate the growth of Bloom energy and help in replacing the traditional power grids, enabling cleaner, more efficient and affordable energy. However, there are some aspects which might impede the acceptance of renewable energy sources among the people. Tom Donohue, the President of the U.S chamber of commerce, explicitly stated in his speech that the various renewable energy legislation making their way through the Senate would actually eliminate jobs.(greenenergyreporter.com, 2010) These controversies could impede the growing acceptance of the technology among public. In the case of loss of a large number of jobs, this technology would lose public support resulting in a downfall in its growth. We have cause to believe that renewable energy technologies will soon become a very important field of development with all the industries switching to cleaner energy generating plans. Further, if hydrogen fuelled automobiles come into existence in the near future; it would make a large difference in our emission levels, thereby making earth a cleaner planet on the whole while catering to our needs as well. Making energy generation available to the millions that do not have access to at affordable prices it would make a large difference in their lives, bringing about educational progress. The production of 11 million kilowatt hours of electricity resulted in an estimated 14 million pounds in CO2 reductions. This level of emission reduction, the company said, is the equivalent of planting one million trees and, at the same time, powering about 1,000 typical American homes for one year. (Levine, 2010) This means that this technology has a dual impact of catering to consumer needs while making emission reductions possible. In turn, we might be creating a better environment on the whole, enabling us to conserve large amounts of power which is usually lost in transit. These loses can greatly affect the fuel imported in order to produce energy by traditional means, making production cost effective. This plan might also be of interest to organizations paying attention to reducing emissions having in view, the ill effects of global warming. Having considered many aspects, all the benefits and the positive direction of change, this technology might just happen to be something we have all been looking forward to. Reference: bloomenergy.com. Bloom Energy. Retrieved February 27, 2010 from http://www.bloomenergy.com/ Green Energy Reporter. (2010). U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Tom Donohue Now Claims Renewable Energy Legislation Kill Jobs. January 13, 2010, Retrieved February 27, 2010 from http://greenenergyreporter.com/2010/01/u-s-chamber-of-commerces-tom-donahue-now-claims-renewable-energy-legislation-kill-jobs-video/ Levine, B. (2010). Bloom Energy Launches Cheaper, Cleaner Electricity. Retrieved February 27, 2010 from http://www.newsfactor.com/news/Bloom-Launches-Cheaper-Electricity/story.xhtml?story_id=121003W7ZVTH&full_skip=1 Read More