Silicon Valley doesn't just produce innovative web companies — it's also a mecca for the green tech boom. Bloom Energy, which launches officially on Wednesday, has built a refrigerator-sized box that can power your whole house.

Bloom Energy has actually been operating for eight years, raising $400 million in funding from VCs including Kleiner Perkins (investors in Netscape, Amazon, Google and others). Its "Bloom Box" houses fuel cells that run on oxygen plus natural gas, landfill gas, bio-gas or even solar power.

The company's first customer was Google, which has been powering a datacenter on 4 Bloom Boxes for 18 months. Google's boxes run on natural gas. eBay is also a customer — the company has five Bloom Boxes in San Jose, which it says have saved $100,000 in energy costs more than nine months.

The Bloom Box got its first TV appearance on CBS' 60 Minutes tonight, which will no doubt drive interest in the launch. Look out for more news on Wednesday.

What do you think? Could Bloom Boxes power the future?



