TreeHugger has been watching the hype surrounding fuel cells coming to the marketplace ever since it was but a wee sprout. For the most part, we're still waiting (and hoping) for them to materialize; the (awesome!) notion that we can power stuff without the conventional grid or other "dirty" fuels keeps on hanging on, though. Here are our picks for one of the implementations that makes the most sense: the laptop computer.
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1) Almost as big as the Thinkpad it is designed to power, IBM and Sanyo cooked up a methanol-based fuel cell that will run a notebook for up to 8 hours back in 2005. It is even compatible with existing Thinkpads, although not recommended for use on airplanes. Now if Sanyo could just develop a cooker (and, oh yeah, sell the things!) to make methanol at home out of our compost, we'd really have something.
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2) Matsushita, a division of Panasonic, unveiled a direct methanol fuel cell in early 2006 that was similar to the one pictured, and smaller and more powerful than comparable models developed to date. At 24 cubic inches, it is about the size of a soda can and about half the size of previous models; it features an average output of 13 watts, a peak output of 20 watts, giving a laptop using this fuel cell up to 20 hours of runtime.
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3) By mid-2006, it seemed that things were progressing and that the wait would soon be over, but the news from Toshiba made us think we'd be paying taxes again before buying one of these puppies (and we were right). To date, it had taken about four years to get the pieces of the fuel cell puzzle together; according to Tomoaki Arimura of Toshiba's Methanol Fuel Cell Group, Toshiba was working towards commercialization in 2007...still, we wait. Two more picks, after the jump...
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4) The prototypes continue to get smaller, more powerful (though no less commercially available) -- the latest incarnation, from UltraCell, claims two days of laptop life, which is quite an improvement over the 20 hours we saw in the most recent prototype. Sadly, this UltraCell model is still just a prototype, and the military gets the first shot at them once production-ready.
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5) For those who think fuel cells will never, ever come to market, there is a bit of good news, thanks to the Fuel Cell Store. Among their offerings is a fully functioning power back up system for that special skeptic who’s worried about a power outage, but also concerned about the noise and carbon monoxide poisoning risk of a conventional generator; we note that the Fuel Cell Store also carries a full line of pure hydrogen models as well.
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Here is a more impressive fuel cell offering being built by Samsung. The fuel cell is supposed to supply one month's worth of laptop power (they do not mention whether it is a month continuous or not).
The most up-to-date version:
Here
Old version from December 2006:
Here
So explain to me again how all of the arguments that are FOR plug-in hydrids (use the existing grid, less polution, etc.) and the issues with hydrogen (safety, production, density) apparently don't apply to making fuel cells for notebooks?
Michael,
They do apply, but the first laptop manufacturer that makes a laptop that can be carried around all day without charging or make a 10 hour plane flight without charging will sell quite a bit.
I think the biggest hurdle to this will be not making a fuel cell, but making one the FAA will approve for in flight use.
I can't take liquids on a plane but they expect to take hydrogen or methanol? good luck with that...
Personally I would love a laptop that had only 15 minutes of battery life, as most people rarely use a laptop for long without a plug nearby. 15 minutes would let me save everything if the power went out, or needed to quickly check something without pulling out the cord. This would result in a smaller lighter and cheaper laptop, and possibly free up enough room that the power supply could be inside instead of a bulky external supply.
My thoughts, too. Besides rare cases of thermal runaway, Li-ion seem to be pretty much perfect for electronics. This is an answer to a question no one asked.
So will these be disposable fuel cartridges or can they be refilled by the consumer?
Though a methanol fuel cell sounds great, methanol is made from natural gas so all we are doing is switching from one form of non-renewable to another non-renewable.
Butane has a higher energy density than methanol. Wouldn't it make better sense to have a butane powered fuel cell?