How the Bloom Box Works

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The Bloom Box-a fuel cell hyped as being able to deliver cheap, emissions-free energy-debuted last week to much fanfare. But the report we featured explaining the science behind the device left much to be desired. It seemed to work by a combination of natural gas and magical green and black inks. Thankfully, Gizmodo has published an incredibly helpful guide to the Bloom Box. Most importantly, for all the messianic talk:

And though it's cleaner than any combustion engine out there, it still relies on fossil fuels and biofuels-not just hydrogen, like some other kinds of fuel cells do. ...Again, to be clear, the energy generated isn't emission-free: These servers generate a small amount of CO2 when converting natural gas or bio-gas. It is less than what would get released if the same fuel was combusted, however.

It's not going to solve any energy crisis, just the carbon crisis. Yes, that's the one that is most in front of us right now, but ideally we would get rid of both in one fell swoop. Still, this is a step in the right direction. It managed to save eBay $100,000 off their electricity bill, which is truly impressive. We'll be keeping a close eye on Bloom, and hopefully it will be a rousing success, or inspire even more rousing successes.