Bloom Energy Servers to provide 30% of Adobe HQ's electricity

Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) and Bloom Energy Corporation announced Tuesday they had completed the installation of the largest commercial Bloom Energy fuel cell array to date.

A total of 12 Bloom Energy Servers, each the size of an average parking space and costing somewhere around $700,000, were installed on the 5th floor of Adobe’s West Tower at the company’s headquarters campus in San Jose, California. Generating 1.2 megawatts of electricity on site, Adobe expects to reduce its carbon footprint by approximately 121.5 million pounds over the next 10 years.

“We hope to be an example to other companies considering cleaner, more affordable energy sources for their operations,” said Randall H. Knox, III, senior director, Global Workplace Solutions, Adobe. But other companies wouldn't only be following Adobe's example if they decide to install Bloom Energy Servers.

Since emerging from eight years of secrecy and product development in early 2010, Bloom hit the ground running with commercial fuel cells installations at tech giants Google (Bloom's first customer) and eBay, but also at non-tech Fortune 500 corporations like Walmart, Coca-Cola, FedEx and Bank of America.

The Bloom Energy Server, also known as a "Bloom box" contains thousands of solid oxide fuel cells – flat, solid ceramic squares made from a sand-like powder – which convert air and gas (either natural gas or biogas) into electricity via an electrochemical process, producing net-zero carbon emissions.* Typically, one server generates enough power to meet the needs of approximately 100 average U.S. homes or one small office building.

Founded by K.R. Sridhar, who we selected as one of the 10 most creative green people in business, Bloom Energy is a privately-held company that is rumored to go public with an IPO some time in 2011. Some over-zealous estimates put the post-IPO valuation of Bloom Energy at between $20 billion and $40 billion -- a valuation Greentech Media criticized as "breathless hype-mongering."

*The carbon emissions of the Bloom Box depends on the type of fuel used, as one reader points out in an email: "When the Bloom Box is run off of natural gas it is not net zero carbon. While the Bloom Box doesn't burn methane it does turn CH4 into H2O and CO2 as it creates electricity via an electrochemical process. These are the same products one gets from natural gas combustion for electricity generation. The only greenhouse gas emission benefit offered by the Bloom Box is if it displaces coal-fired grid electricity or less efficient (taking into account line losses) natural gas-fired grid electricity both of which would produce more CO2 per MWh of electricity than a Bloom Box."

Photo: Some rights reserved by BloomEnergy