In Part Two of my Bloom Energyinterview with CEO KR Sridhar, we discuss the affordability of the Bloom Box and what barriers to entry make the fuel cell sector difficult to penetrate. As CNET’sBrooke Crothers emphasized in his recent article there are many fuel cell manufacturers with expensive products; Bloom has to prove itself special by making its fuel cells SIGNIFICANTLY more affordable. It’s a long road from $800,000 (Google and eBay’s beta Bloom Boxes’ price tag) to $3,000 -which KR says is the backyard-box goal).
The BBC’s correspondent, Maggie Shiel underlines affordability in her post on Bloom’s reach for energy Nirvana; and Grist’s Todd Woodyexpounds further on the challenges Bloom faces and Walmart’s role in driving down costs. New York Times columnist Tom Friedman has a unique take on the Bloom story in a recent column called “Dreaming the Impossible Dream.”
This from Bloom CEO, KR Sridhar:
“Our goal is clearly to make it affordable. It needs mass market adoption… If it’s not affordable, it’ll be the niche market…it’ll be a Tesla. We need it to be a Honda Civic.”
“It’s a very complex interdisciplinary field…it requires knowledge in a significant number of engineering, science, and material science disciplines. And the development of all the process know-how is fairly complex.”
Financial
“There’s a significant amount of capital that need to be invested over a long period of time to get it to where it needs to be.” (Reportedly over $400 Million has been invested in Bloom Energy since 2002, from several venture capital firms, led by Kleiner Perkins’ John Doerr.)
To see Part I of the Bloom Energy interview where KR discusses the company’s technology and efficiency click here
To check out more VIDEO interview segments at the Fresh Dialogues Channel click here
Rolf Papsdorf, President of the Alternative Energy Development Corporation was a recipient of the 2009 Tech Awardsin Silicon Valley, for bringing renewable energy (zinc fuel cells) and empowerment to a small community in South Africa. Check out this exclusive interview with Mr. Papsdorf who discusses how to create a carbon neutral community, the advantages of zinc fuel cells (portability is a big plus) and why he wants to meet Al Gore.
The Obama administration ought to have sent an envoy to the FountainBlueState of Clean Green Conference on January 29, 2010. A panel of Silicon Valley clean tech experts had much to share in response to Moderator Greentech Media’sEric Wesoff’s question…if you had Department of Energy Secretary, Steve Chu’s job, what would you do? In other words, how can Obama better jumpstart the clean tech economy?
Tim Woodward, Managing Director, Nth Power said the government needs to create market demand, and recommends that every government building should have solar power and be retrofitted for energy efficiency; but warned,
“There’s a little too much of a ‘large check mandate’ in the Federal Government that picks technologies and stifles innovation at lower levels: figure out how to get smaller dollars into the innovation engine of smaller companies.”
“I look at the pricing and incentivizing through market pricing. We’re still subsidizing imported oil without putting the investment into alternative energies…I think we should put a tax on imported oil and use it to help pay off some of the defense spending we’re using to protect the transmission of that oil. We need to forge ahead with cap and trade legislation… until we have a price on carbon it’s hard for the markets to plan and have any certainty.”
Laurie Yoler, a managing director of Growth Point Technology Partners, was a founding board member of Tesla Motors and currently serves on its advisory board. I met with her at the FountainBlue Clean Green Annual Conference on Friday January 29th, the day Tesla announced its planned IPO. Needless to say, Yoler was bullish about Tesla’s prospects this year. We also discussed President Obama’s State of the Union Speech on January 27th and the government’s role in stimulating green technology.
Good news for Green Tech Venture Capitalists in State of Union Speech?
“Rather than what our president said that night, I look at what’s actually taking place, the changes I’m seeing. President Obama as a president has embraced sustainability throughout his tenure.”
Robert Ballard, the ocean explorer of Titanic famesat down with me in Silicon Valley to discuss his expeditions, global warming, and alternative energy. This respected scientist spoke candidly about global warming -“I’ll be honest, it’s too late, all the ice is going to melt.” READ the TRANSCRIPT
On the global warming controversy: Natural cycle or Human impact?
“Hey folks: it’s both. Whenever you have a tremendous controversy both sides tend to be right and wrong. You do have the natural interglacial warming that we’re experiencing, but you are increasing the severity of it with the human footprint. The concern most people have is that we can’t do much about the natural cycle, but we can do a lot about the human cycle. ..if you steepen it too much, evolution can’t keep up and you get extinction.”
On being Politically Correct
“Sometimes I see this tombstone that says, “the human race came and went but it was politically correct.” As a scientist I am not politically correct. My job is not to be politically correct. My job is to call it as I see it. And I see that the biggest problem the human race has is that there are too many of us.”
On the need to reduce our carbon footprint (more…)
