Why methanol? Why not ethanol? Think of it... it would be so much easier to fuel, since you can find ethanol in all liquor stores... plus it wouldn't be poisonous.

is burning any fuel really necessary? what about pv? maybe a panel big enough for continuous power is too big?

PVs won't give you 48 hours on one charge... Thing is, state-of-the-art nanotech solid-state batteries will soon challenge any need for liquid chemistry. They will recharge in seconds, not minutes, and last just as long, if not longer. Anyone investing in micro-fuel cell technology stands a chance of quickly losing their shirt once next-gen comes along.

I'm building a PV system for a cross country cycling trip. You need about 60 watts' worth of panels to power a laptop *directly* from the panels. That works out to (very roughly) about five or six square feet of panels.

Most PV systems are set up to use the panels to charge up a deep cycle battery, which the laptop then runs off of. This is where the fuel cell leaps ahead: energy density. A six-pound sealed lead-acid battery of the type used in PV setups will power a laptop for roughly three hours (lighter hi-capacity batteries, like Lithium-ion, don't work well in PV applications).

So there's really no comparison in terms of energy storage and output. I really wish these were out now...I'd be taking one along instead of a PV system that weighs eighteen pounds in total!

The MeOH vs EtOH question continuously comes up so I'll try to address it in an abbreviated fashion. Ratio of hydrogen to carbon moles for MeOH is 4 to 1. For EtOH the ratio is 3 to 1. Methanol has one-third more hydrogens per mole of fuel molecule. Unlike a combustion generator, a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) like this one pulls its electrons directly out of the hydrogen: albeit one third more efficiently with MeOH than with EtOH. Please pass along to your friends.

RemyC:
There are certain applications in which fuel cells still have the advantage, whih is probably why the military is being targeted. It is often easier to truck in some sort of high density fuel than rely on battery, capacitor, or solar energy. For most of us, such a fuel cell would be silly when higher density electricity storage will soon be otherwise available, especially without worrying about getting an explosive chemical through airpot security.

RemyC is exactly right about the military applications of this product. As it stands an Infantryman carries around a huge burden of batteries and spare batteries for all the little techno-gizmos that give him an advantage over his generally techno-free enemy. This product would not only allow the soldier on the battle field greater mobility, but it would substantially reduce the Military's massive consumption and disposal of batteries.

RemyC is exactly right about the military applications of this product. As it stands an Infantryman carries around a huge burden of batteries and spare batteries for all the little techno-gizmos that give him an advantage over his generally techno-free enemy. This product would not only allow the soldier on the battle field greater mobility, but it would substantially reduce the Military's massive consumption and disposal of batteries.

What happened to those lap tops that charged their battery by tapping the keys?

JL, who are you, and can we pick this up off list? I'm very interested in this MeOH to EtOH H2 to C ratio... as I am launching an ethanol blog. Maybe there's a way to boost the EtOH ratio without losing the non-toxic factor. Isn't that what they do at Indy?

To RemyC, you can't add more hydrogens without turning ethanol into something that isn't ethanol anymore. Besides, in car racing, the fuel is burned, not directly converted to electricity, in which case ethanol would be a better fuel, viz: http://zenstoves.net/Fuels.htm

Thanks Drew, very informative link.

Thanks for the interesting discussion, everybody.

i heard that you can bring the fuel cell gizmo onto an airplane. as i recently purchased a mac, i hope they make versions compatible with macs!