Bloom Energy's current product is a relatively inexpensive and versatile fuel cell that can power roughly 100 American homes. The devices cost $700,000 a piece and are roughly twice as efficient as natural gas power transmitted through the grid. They've sold a bunch of these boxes (with hefty federal and state subsidies) to a lot of large businesses in California, including Google, eBay, FedEx, WalMart and Staples. The boxes are busy creating "clean" energy as we speak.

Bloom has finally opened the doors to its operation to the press, allowing 60 Minutes a walk-through of their facility as well as providing interviews with the CEO of eBay and former Secretary of State Colin Powell. But I put "clean" in quotation marks because, despite the fact that the words "carbon dioxide" are never mentioned, Bloom Boxes still pump CO2 into the atmosphere, albeit far less than a traditional grid-scale natural gas plant would.

Bloom's energy is certainly cleaner energy, but while they're busy comparing themselves to solar power and wind, they're not true clean energy unless they use bio-gas. I applaud them for using bio-gas when they can, but there simply isn't enough of the stuff to power Bloom Boxes on a significant scale.

But let's not spend too much time arguing about whether "cleaner" counts as "clean." In my book, this is certainly good enough.

Bloom's true potential is in super-charging the distributed power system. Bloom (very optimistically) wants to shrink its box (in size and cost) so that every American can have one in their basement for around $3000. The box would power the entire house, basically making a connection to the grid a convenience, not a necessity. This may not seem important until we realize that up to half of the power produced at a power plant is lost in transit.

Bloom Energy might also help power the developing world without expensive power infrastructure just as cell phones have created a cheap communications infrastructure.

Bloom's goals are lofty and it may be that distributed power is going to be a long time in coming if it comes at all, but while they're doing a great job of making this revelation sound more important than it is in the short term, the chance remains that this could actually be a very big deal.

Ever wish you could micromanage the heating and cooling of your workplace down to the area around your desk?  Turns out, not only would it make you more comfortable, but it would also save energy.

If you've ever worked in a large office building, you know that the AC can pump so much that you're freezing in the middle of summer.  In my last workplace, many people used individual space heaters to cancel out the arctic blast of the AC vents - not exactly energy efficient!  Well, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have discovered that allowing people to control their own AC vents at their desk can cut a building's energy use by as much as 50 percent.

The personalized ventilation cuts electricity use because the air only needs to be cooled around an employee's desk instead of cooling entire rooms or hallways.  Vents could also be set to shut off when someone leaves their desk.  It's easy to imagine how this would work in closed offices, but I wonder just how personal the ventilation would have to be to work in cubicles?

The greatest savings would be seen by companies based in places that require year-round cooling, like Singapore, and places where employees stay put and don't move around much.  Even for other climates, there would still be savings, and the bonus of limiting the spreading of airborne diseases and happier, more comfortable employees.

via New Scientist