A new startup called Bloom Energy took the media by storm when they were featured in the CBS 60 minute with a potential breakthrough in clean energy. This new technology promises to use cheap ingredients like sand ( which is available in abundance) as a energy server- something which can store energy when in surplus and produce energy when demanded. The bloom energy runs on flex fuel, renewable biogas, natural gas even solar energy and produces very little pollution (clean) or in some cases totally carbon neutral ( when using renewable biogas). The details of the technology can be seen here.

I have been passionate about energy conservation and cleaner/ sustainable sources of energy for a long time. This announcement today in a press event in San Jose came to me as a pleasant surprise. The details of the press event can be obtained here. The technology has great potential but still needs to overcome many potential challenges. The biggest one is going to be bringing down the cost to affordable level, otherwise people will continue to use the older cheaper dirtier way of energy consumption. The second challenge would be to scale this thing beyond its current experiments in California alone. A true disruptive technology should be useful across the continent- be it Asia or Africa or America. The third challenge as I see it is making the ceramic durable enough so that they last long enough for a reasonable payback.

In other words there is a long way ahead for this technology, but hey even it fails , it is going to leave behind valuable lessons for its successors. This is how we progress, nothing ventured, nothing gained and not to forget the great quote from Issac Newton – “If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulder of giants”. I am also proud that founder of Bloom Energy K R Sridhar is a fellow Indian who now calls North America his home. Sridhar, keep doing the good work, if you succeed you will create history, if you fail, you will be the shoulder your successor would have stood on to go further!!