Slashdot Mirror
Canon's Fuel Cell May Drive Portable Gear
RX8 writes "Canon, Inc., has taken the wraps off prototype rechargeable hydrogen fuel cells, the likes of which may one day power digital cameras, media players, and printers. Canon's demonstrated fuel cells win even more points on the environmental front: while companies such as Toshiba, Sanyo, and NEC have also been working on fuel cells (and had been expected to have developed fuel cell-driven notebook computers by now), those efforts are based on DMFC technology which derives hydrogen from methanol, producing small amounts of carbon dioxide (itself a greenhouse gas) in the process. Canon's cells obtain hydrogen from a refillable cartridge with no toxic byproducts."
I think their green-ishness is pretty artificial. Their cartrige doesn't release CO2 in the atmospher when used. However the company that's going to produce the H2 and fill the cartriges is very likely to extract it from natural gas and releasing the CO2 then. With other words: this is as far from the truth as you can get without lying. Unless, ofcourse, they set up a hydrogen extraction plant that's powered with renewable energy and use electrolysis to get the H2. But considering the startup price, that's pretty unlikely.