Laptop Methanol Fuel Cells Promised This Week

securitas writes: "Wired tells us that Germany's Smart Fuel Cell is about to ship the first methanol based fuel cells for laptops and other electronic devices. The company says a 120 milliliter fuel cell can power a 15W notebook for 10 hours, and you can refill it without shutting down."

Flamable?

[Max von H.]

I wonder if they'll allow them on planes. Not that a few milliliters of methanol seem dangerous compared to the dozens of tons of kerozene you sit on... But it'd sure be nice to be able to play Quake on those long-haul flights!

/max

15W notebook?

[NNKK]

Is 15W standard? The power supply for my laptop is 60W, is most of that just so it can recharge the battery faster? Seems like a 60W power supply is a waste for a 15W unit.

Flight safety(security and breathing)?

[Zergwyn]

Now this is a situation that I'm sure airlines will love: business passengers now wanting to carry little bottles of fuel instead of spare batteries for their portables. This will become even worse if cells arrive that run off of pure hydrogen-"PEM (proton exchange membrane) fuel cells that run on hydrogen." This technology, should it be cheap enough, will get very popular very quickly(who wouldn't love to have a 10 our notebook life that can be extended without shutdown). But I wonder what the policy will be? Ten hours should be plenty for any flight, so maybe airlines will just say that any refills can't be in carry-on bags.

The other problem is that planes are closed environments. Just as you can't smoke on a plane, it seems possible that any emmisions given off by fuel cells other then water vapor might also cause them to be banned. It may be that the battery won't be abandoned just yet.

Another way to recharge your laptop: Stepcharger

[af_robot]

"...With just a brisk pump of your foot, you will never worry about a dead battery again. With just a few pumps of the "STEPCHARGER" you can instantly begin to charge your laptop, cellphone, video camera and much more"
Homepage [aladdinpower.com]
Image 1 [aladdinpower.com]
Image 2 [aladdinpower.com]

Creating MORE Waste

[adamjone]

One of the main thrusts behind developing fuel cells is how clean they are. The only exhaust from the process is water. This is great! However, if the methanol charges for the fuel cells are not rechargeable themselves, we will be adding a MORE exhaust to the environment, in the form of the disposed charger. Depending on how the charger is constructed, this can lead to toxic heavy metals breaking down in the earth.

When charging a standard chemical battery, we rely on the cleanliness of the source powering the outlet. Perhaps this technology might be better applied on a larger scale, such as powering an office building, or a small town.

About 20-30% efficiency

[Kopretinka]

We've just made rough estimates here and it seems that the cells could have some 20 to 30 per cent efficiency - not bad.

10 hours of 15 watts is 150 watt-hours, cca 540 kJ.

120ml of methanol burned means about 500kcal of energy - about 2 MJ max retrievable by burning.

This does indeed look nice.

Better use in cars

[houston_pt]

Right now the cost of these things is too big, but if they manage to really break into the battery market, it will probably go dow with mass production. Then maybe, as stated in this article [wired.com] also from wired, we can start seein real electric cars...
No gas, just methanol, 33 cents a gallon...

15W?

[Howie]

can power a 15W notebook for 10 hours,

Anyone know what the typical notebook draws? A brief simpleminded look at my Tosh suggests more than 15W... (label on bottom says 19V, 3.5A. Therefore power is 19x3.5?)

Razorblades and razors

[DrXym]

It's interesting that companies intend to make tamper-proof cartridges and sell them for $3 to $5 when the raw ingredients sell for cents.

It sounds like just like razors and razorblades - sell a cheap razor requiring proprietary razorblades and lock-in your consumers to your brand.

Until companies snap out of this mindset I don't see the technology taking off. You can still make a massive profit by selling them for a buck each or even making refillable ones and your customers will love you for it. The first company to get a clue is likely to see their sales rocket.

Re:Creating MORE Waste

[germanbirdman]

First of all, burning a methanol fuel cell will create CO2 and H20. CH3OH is what methanol is, but that is not what I really want to say.

You say:
When charging a standard chemical battery, we rely on the cleanliness of the source powering the outlet.

You have to consider though that when charging a battery, you have to put a LOT more power into it when you get out of it.
Plus, when you burn something, only 30-40% of the energy contained in coal or gas can get converted into electricity. With a fuel cell, you are turning the energy directly into electricity in the way of a chemical reation and you get figures without looking it up, so I may be wronng, along 90% or more.

Another plus is that methanol occurs abundently on the earth. Methane gets produced almost everywhere, add a bit of water to that and let the reaction happen over time, you get methanol. You don't need electricity to create it.

So it is actually quite clean, except for the disposable plastic containers. But if these can be reused, then it's a big environmental plus.