Pursuing portable power
An admitted techno-geek, I can't wait for better, cleaner, and smaller power cells for my gadgets, and technology is starting to catch up with my expectations. Energy storage technology has gone from a stone cup full of hot coals to a spinning flywheel, and generation technology has evolved from mechanical to chemical, and may soon go biological.
Engineers turn to the battery, flywheel, generator, and fuel cell to form systems that not only protect devices and facilities from power loss, but also from defects in its quality. A New York blackout survivor, I rediscovered that self-generating backup power systems are a godsend.
The quest for the perfect battery is far from over, and the stakes continue to increase.
On the portable device front, today's batteries must perform well in tough and demanding applications. The energy storage technology of the future must be able to serve the power-hungry and space-constrained needs of the advanced portables to come.
Recent research hints at the possibility of using iron-reducing bacteria to generate electricity, a method less toxic in use and disposal than chemistry-based power cells. The question I see here has less to do with the technology's success than to wonder how will society adapt to a potentially low-cost source of nearly limitless (sugar is an easily-renewable resource) electrical power.
Energy has become a new staple, along with food, clothing, and shelter. We must continue to seek advances in the creation of that energy and the ways to store and distribute it.
�Alix L. Paultre, Senior Editor
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