Speaking of grains...

Clean energy adoption won't be about any single big idea. It will be the cumulative effect of major technological advances being utilized in simple, small ways. Bloom Energy has developed a type of fuel cell that is cheap to produce (silica sand is a major ingredient), runs with little maintenance, and can utilize a range of available fuel options. It is scalable, and stackable!

Seeing the simplicity of this device and its potential make me sad it is not being touted more widely nor loudly, but I like what they've done with their product development and the clear marketing plan - sell it by using it!

http://www.inhabitat.com/2010/02/22/bloom-energy-set-to-unveil-miraculous-micro-power-plant/

Take careful note of how they not only demo'd the device, but outed the many (!) commercial customers who are already using the devices. It seems eBay is getting 15% of their LA campus' energy needs from a small farm of these Bloom Boxes. Ditto a range of top tier corporate clients.