energy

Need Fuel? How About Some Wine and Cheese?

August 25, 2011 by noemi 1 Comment

Owning a car means a lot of things to different people. For some, a car is simply a means to get around when public transportation does not cut it. For others, it is a statement. Having a car that catches the attention of other people is important. Whatever a car means to you, you will probably agree with all the other car owners in the world on one thing: fueling up is getting darned expensive!

I don’t know if you still remember the days when a gallon (or a liter) of fuel was affordable. These days, the prices just seem to go higher and higher, with a little bit of respite every now and then. The future looks bleak when it comes to conventional fuel, but it seems that bright minds are busy trying to make sure that alternative fuel sources are going to be available to the average person tomorrow. [Read more…] about Need Fuel? How About Some Wine and Cheese?

Need Electrical Juice? Walk More!

August 24, 2011 by noemi Leave a Comment

How often do you have to charge your smartphone? I think I mentioned some time ago that ever since I switched to the iPhone 4, I have had to charge my mobile phone every day. Comparing this to the every other day (sometimes every three days) charging I had to do with my Nokia E63, it does seem excessive. However, if you think about what one normally does with the iPhone (not to mention 3G or Wi-Fi always on), the once a day charging system does make sense.

Having access to electrical juice is something that the modern person has to deal with on a daily basis. As such, researchers are also on the ball as to figuring out how to make batteries last longer and how to provide consumers with more power. [Read more…] about Need Electrical Juice? Walk More!

Wear This Shirt and Forget Batteries

January 18, 2011 by noemi Leave a Comment

If Zhong Lin Wang (Georgia Institute of Technology) and Jong Min Kim (Samsung Electronics) are successful, we might not to lug around heavy batteries for our mobile devices anymore. The two guys, together with their teams, have unveiled a prototype of their pet project – a flexible energy storage device. This flexible energy storage device is made of zinc oxide nanowires which are incorporated into fibers that are used for everyday clothing. In other words, we just might have shirts and dresses that can function as batteries!

The concept is not that new, actually, but others before this current team were unable to make prototypes that were light enough. In making this new prototype, though, the team made use of supercapacitors which are so tiny that they make the idea feasible. More than being light, these supercapacitors are also very flexible, making them perfect for clothing material.

Of course, more than the flexibility and wearability, we are also concerned about the power capacity of these supercapacitors. Well, the good news is that they can be recharged very quickly and almost endlessly. Even better, the zinc oxide nanowires can be recharged by the person’s heartbeat or a light wind. So if you need to recharge your batteries – literally – you just need to walk a little faster to increase your heart rate and get a bit of wind blowing on the shirt! It does sound too good to be true, doesn’t it?

Since this is all in the development stage, we might not see “battery shirts” in the market any time soon. One thing that is bugging me though: I wonder how much they will sell for?

Photo via Me and Him