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Prime VIP
Indian invents clean power device
NEW YORK: A team of Silicon Valley based technocrats, led by an Indian, K.R. Sridhar launched an energy server on Tuesday which they claimed could convert air and virtually any other fuel source into clean electricity.
Among the customers already lined up to buy the `Bloom Box' as it is called -- after Sridhar's start up com- pany, Bloom Energy -- are Bank of America, Fedex, Coca Cola, Google and Walmart.
In a statement, Sridhar, who graduated from Madras University, said, "We believe that we can have the same kind of impact on energy that the mobile phone had on commu- nications."
Each box uses solid oxide fuel cells and can generate 100 kilo- watts of power. The fuel cells are ceramic plates coated with a secret material that chemi- cally react with oxygen and the source fuel like natural gas or biogas to create electricity.
The technology has its roots in the time when Sridhar worked with NASA on a proj- ect to create technology to help sustain life on Mars.
Bloom Energy was founded in 2001 and that idea was trans- lated into reality on Earth. The 49-year-old Sridhar studied mechanical engineering at the University of Madras.
NEW YORK: A team of Silicon Valley based technocrats, led by an Indian, K.R. Sridhar launched an energy server on Tuesday which they claimed could convert air and virtually any other fuel source into clean electricity.
Among the customers already lined up to buy the `Bloom Box' as it is called -- after Sridhar's start up com- pany, Bloom Energy -- are Bank of America, Fedex, Coca Cola, Google and Walmart.
In a statement, Sridhar, who graduated from Madras University, said, "We believe that we can have the same kind of impact on energy that the mobile phone had on commu- nications."
Each box uses solid oxide fuel cells and can generate 100 kilo- watts of power. The fuel cells are ceramic plates coated with a secret material that chemi- cally react with oxygen and the source fuel like natural gas or biogas to create electricity.
The technology has its roots in the time when Sridhar worked with NASA on a proj- ect to create technology to help sustain life on Mars.
Bloom Energy was founded in 2001 and that idea was trans- lated into reality on Earth. The 49-year-old Sridhar studied mechanical engineering at the University of Madras.
