With the miniaturization of all our technology, the power that fuels it when it’s not connected to the wall is increasingly becoming an issue. The dream laptop studio in the garden is more of a reality now that the cpu power is closer to our needs and expectations. The problem is really now with the batteries, Lithium Ion cells are currently most popular, with the dreaded memory effect a thing of the past. However, the technology that we are likely to see in the future comes in the form of Hydrogen powered fuel cells.

A fuel cell is a device that converts the chemical energy of a fuel, in this case hydrogen and an oxidant (air or oxygen) into electricity. In principle, a fuel cell operates like a battery. Unlike a battery however, a fuel cell does not run down or require recharging. It will produce electricity and heat as long as fuel and an oxidizer are supplied and can be re-energized by adding more fuel, which takes very little time as opposed to waiting for the charge to be drawn from the mains.

Canon, like many other portable technology manufacturers have been checking out fuel-cells for a replacement to traditional rechargeable batteries. They recently showed a prototype which represents several years of research and uses Hydrogen as it’s fuel source. This in itself is a breakthrough as many other competing research uses a methanol based fuel.

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