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Hitachi Shows Off A Fuel-Cell PDA
prostoalex writes "Hitachi made a PDA, powered by a fuel cell. The device runs for 5 hours, and they plan to expand the battery power to 40 hours. It weighs 700 grams, which makes it heavier than most of the models out there. The commercial production will start next year, a picture is available from MobileMag." (This earlier mention of Hitachi's work talks about how such fuel cells could be used to charge or power other things, from cellphones to laptops.)
Cool but how much does it save me over than using rechargeable Double-A batteries? I just hope the fuel cells aren't something like $400 for a $300 PDA.
I'm not sure I'd like to walk with methanol in my pocket.
People walk around with methanol lighters. Never really heard of anyone being so chicken that they can't even carry a lighter.
you could say that this is actually more polluting than conventional energy sources
More than a NiCD, Li-ion, or NiMH battery? Those systems also require that you put energy into them, and they are extremely far away from being 100% efficient.
It should be obvious to the casual observer that plugging a device directly into the wall is more energy efficient than using a portable energy storage system with a device. There is simply no such thing as 100% efficiency in any energy storage products.
The big question is how much energy you can store in the smallest space with the smallest amount of nasty chemicals. Charging efficiency is only a small part of the picture - heck, I'm confident that driving your SUV for a mile uses more energy than all the batteries I have ever used in my entire life... and then some.
In addition, the chemicals involved in traditional "batteries" are known to be very toxic. If you want to talk about polutants, look at all the cell phone batteries that are thrown away year after year.
Energy efficiency isn't the only piece of the pie when it comes to polutants. Especially when you consider the toxicity of traditional batteries.
You have a point. But only a half baked point.
You read the article, you quote the article. But you misquote. Nowhere does it say hydrogen is 100% pollution free. And nowhere do they misspell "precent" Here is the real text:
"A fuel cell is a pollution-free and highly efficient power source and it is expected to be used for automobiles and in households, although its greater cost than that of traditional power sources limits its applications at present."
BTW, It IS possible (and it is already happening NOW) to produce clean hydrogen.
Already, Iceland, "harvests" hydrogen by using hot water springs. Also, hydrogen created from Solar energy, or really any clean energy source, is also truely clean.
Remember, hydrogen is no energy -source- per se. It is a handy energy -carrier-. So is oil. (And we misuse it as a source) We still need clean sources to -make- hydrogen.
But in USING oil ALONE lies enviromental consequences. Not so with hydrogen. It is the -usage- which is 100% clean. So the article claims "The fuelcell is clean" and the article is right.
"/Dread"