section may not adequately summarize key points of its contents . please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article . please discuss this issue on the article s talk page . march 2015 the bloom energy server the bloom box is a solid oxide fuel cell sofc power generator made by bloom energy of sunnyvale california that takes a variety of input fuels including liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons 1 produced from biological sources to produce electricity at or near the site where it will be used . 2 3 this new class of distributed power generator produce clean reliable affordable electricity at the customer site . it can withstand temperatures of up to 1 800 f 980 c . 4 according to the company a single cell one 100 mm 100 mm plate consisting of three ceramic layers generates 25 watts . 5 bloom stated in 2011 that two hundred servers had been deployed in california for corporations including ebay google yahoo and wal mart . 6 contents 1 technology 2 bloom energy 2.1 history 3 costs 3.1 installation 3.2 usage 4 installations 5 portable units 6 feasibility 6.1 efficiency 6.2 long term business case 7 competition 8 see also 9 references 10 external links technology edit the bloom energy server uses thin white ceramic plates 100 100 mm 7 that are made from components found in beach sand . each plate is coated with a green nickel oxide based ink on one side forming the anode and another black probably lanthanum strontium manganite ink on the cathode side . 8 9 according to the san jose mercury news bloom s secret technology apparently lies in the proprietary green ink that acts as the anode and the black ink that acts as the cathode ... but in fact these materials are widely known in the field of sofcs . wired reported that the secret ingredient may be yttria stabilized zirconia based upon us patent that was granted to bloom in 2009 ; but this material is also one of the most common electrolyte materials in the field . 10 us patent application 20080261099 assigned to bloom energy corporation says that the electrolyte includes yttria stabilized zirconia and a scandia stabilized zirconia such as a scandia ceria stabilized zirconia . scsz has a higher conductivity than ysz at lower temperatures which provides greater efficiency and higher reliability when used as an electrolyte . scandia is scandium oxide sc 2o 3 which is a transition metal oxide that costs between us 1 400 and us 2 000 per kilogram in 99.9 % pure form . current annual worldwide production of scandium is less than 2 000 kilograms . most of the 5 000 kilograms used annually is sourced from soviet era stockpiles . citation needed to save money the bloom energy server uses inexpensive metal alloy plates for electric conductance between the two ceramic fast ion conductor plates . in competing lower temperature fuel cells platinum is required at the cathode . 8 bloom energy edit bloom energy type privately held predecessor ion america founded 2002 founder k. r. sridhar c.e.o john finn matthias gottmann james mcelroy dien nguyen headquarters sunnyvale california usa key people k. r. sridhar founder ceo products regenerative solid oxide fuel cells net income 85 million loss 2008 11 owner kleiner perkins among others website http www.bloomenergy.com bloom energy is the company that develops builds and installs bloom energy servers . 11 the company started in 2002 by ceo k.r. sridhar 11 is one of 26 named a 2010 tech pioneer by the world economic forum . 12 history edit in october 2001 ceo k.r sridhar met with john doerr from the venture capital firm kleiner perkins . 13 sridhar asked for more than 100 million to start the company . bloom energy eventually received 400 million of start up funding from venture capitalists including kleiner perkins 8 and vinod khosla . 14 the company originally called ion america was renamed bloom energy in 2006 . 15 sridhar credited his nine year old son for the name saying that his son believed jobs lives environment and children would bloom . 16 michael r. bloomberg appeared at the launch by video link . 17 bloomberg s business news network covered the event but attributed every statement to bloom energy . 18 the ceo gave a media interview to fortune magazine for the first time in 2010 eight years after founding the company because of pressure from his customers . 11 a few days later he allowed lesley stahl of the cbs news program 60 minutes to see the factory . 19 on february 24 2010 the company held its first press conference . 15 bloom energy s well known customers include walmart staples at & t adobe coca cola ebay google bank of america fedex life technologies 20 safeway and yahoo . 21 in july 2014 the company announced a long term strategic partnership with exelon corporation to finance fuel cell projects at 75 commercial facilities in california connecticut new jersey and new york . 22 costs edit installation edit the current cost of each hand made 100 kw bloom energy server is 700 000 800 000 . in 2010 the company announced plans for a smaller home sized bloom server priced under 3 000 . 8 bloom estimated the size of a home sized server at 1 kw although others recommended 5 kw . 23 the capital cost is 7 8 per watt . 24 according to the new york times green blog in early 2011 ... bloom energy ... unveiled a service to allow customers to buy the electricity generated by its fuel cells without incurring the capital costs of purchasing the six figure devices ... . under the bloom electrons service customers sign 10 year contracts to purchase the electricity generated by bloom energy servers while the company retains ownership of the fuel cells and responsibility for their maintenance ... . we re able to tell customers you don t have to put any money up front you pay only for the electrons you use and it s good for your pocketbook and good for planet ceo k.r. sridhar said . 25 usage edit on 24 february 2010 sridhar claimed that his devices were making electricity for 0.08 .10 kwh using natural gas cheaper than today s electricity prices in some parts of the united states such as california . 26 27 twenty percent of the cost savings depend upon avoiding transfer losses that result from energy grid use . 23 bloom energy claimed to be developing power purchase agreements to sell electricity produced by the boxes rather than selling the boxes themselves in order to address customers fears about box maintenance reliability and servicing costs . 19 as of 2010 15 % of the power consumed by ebay was generated via the use of bloom energy servers . at the time after factoring in tax incentives which effectively halved the initial cost ebay expected a three year payback period based on the then 0.14 kwh cost of commercial electricity in california . 28 installations edit the company says that its first 100 kw bloom energy servers were shipped to google in july 2008 . 29 four such servers were installed at google s headquarters which became bloom energy s first customer . 19 another installation of five boxes 1 produces up to 500 kw at ebay headquarters california . 19 bloom energy stated that their customers include staples 300 kw december 2008 30 walmart 800 kw january 2010 31 fedex 500 kw 32 the coca cola company 500 kw 33 and bank of america 500 kw . 34 35 each of these installations were located in california . a 1 megawatt bloom box fuel cell system installed at yahoo headquarters in sunnyvale california in 2014 is designed to power one third of the electricity to the buildings on yahoo s campus . 21 portable units edit sridhar announced plans to install bloom energy servers in third world nations . 17 ex chairman of the joint chiefs of staff colin powell now a bloom energy board member said the bloom energy generators could be useful to the military because they are lighter more efficient and generate less heat than traditional generators . 36 feasibility edit c h 4 2 o 2 c o 2 2 h 2 o e l e c t r i c i t y h e a t displaystyle ch 4 2o 2 rightarrow co 2 2h 2 o electricity heat the chemical reaction used to create energy in bloom energy products bloom energy servers stack small fuel cells to operate in concert . 7 15 bloom energy s approach of assembling fuel cell stacks that enables individual plates to expand and contract at the same rate at high temperatures . 7 however other solid oxide fuel cell producers have solved the problem of different expansion rates of cells in the past . 9 scott samuelsen of the university of california irvine national fuel cell research center questioned the operational life of bloom servers . at this point bloom has excellent potential but they have yet to demonstrate that they ve met the bars of reliability . 15 lawrence berkeley national laboratory expert michael tucker claimed because they operate at high temperatures they can accept other fuels like natural gas and methane and that s an enormous advantage ... the disadvantage is that they can shatter as they are heating or cooling . 15 venture capitalist john doerr asserted that the bloom energy server is cheaper and cleaner than the grid . 1 37 an expert at gerson lehrman group wrote that given today s electricity transmission losses of about 7 % and utility size gas fired power stations efficiency of 33 48 % the bloom energy server is up to twice as efficient as a gas fired power station . 2 fortune stated that bloom has still not released numbers about how much the bloom box costs to operate per kilowatt hour and estimates that natural gas rather than bio gas will be its primary fuel source . 38 ap reporter jonathan fahey in forbes wrote are we really falling for this again every clean tech company on the planet says it can produce clean energy cheaply yet not a single one can . government subsidies or mandates keep the entire worldwide industry afloat . hand it to bloom the company has managed to tap into the hype machine like no other clean tech company in memory . 39 efficiency edit bloom claims a conversion efficiency of around 50 % . 40 a modern combined cycle gas turbine power plant ccgt can reach 60 % overall efficiency while cogeneration can achieve greater than 95 % efficiency . sridhar stated that bloom s products convert chemical energy to electrical energy in one step are more fuel efficient than current gas fired power stations and reduce transmission distribution losses by producing power where it is used . 41 each bloom energy server es5700 is said to provide 200 kw of power similar to the baseload needs of 160 average homes or one office building . 42 the average monthly electricity consumption for a u.s. residential utility customer in 2012 was 903 kwh per month or 1.24 kw mean load . 43 sridhar said the boxes have a 10 year life span 27 although that could include replacing the cells during that period . citation needed the ceo of ebay says bloom energy servers have saved the company 100 000 in electricity bills since they were installed in mid 2009 8 fortune magazine contributor paul keegan calls that figure meaningless without the details to see how he got there . 38 the largest disadvantage is the high operating temperature which results in longer start up times and mechanical and chemical compatibility issues . long