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The Top Ten Technologies: #5 High-Density Portable Power
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Posted Jul 14, 2004 PT by the Health Ranger (Mike Adams)

It's not that battery manufacturers aren't trying to develop something better: efforts to improve battery capacity and power density have been underway for years. Despite the research, arguably the best technology they've produced yet is the ingenious battery testing strip that you can use to check how quickly your batteries have gone dead.

Today's battery technology is simply outdated. The chemicals are extremely hazardous to the environment (Nickel-Cadmium, for example, is made from two heavy metals that are toxic to practically all forms of life on the planet), dangerous to nearby users (risk of explosions), heavy (standard car batteries can weigh 70+ pounds) and unreliable. They charge slowly, their output voltage wavers, and their size becomes a major limiting factor when designing portable electronics like digital cameras. Did I mention they also leak acid from time to time?

Clearly, the world needs a breakthrough in portable power. But what does this have to do with uplifting humanity and improving our collective quality of life? Portable power is a crucial enabling technology for a vast array of applications that promise to improve our lives and our planet. Some of these applications include:

Wearable computers: Smaller batteries will make wearable computers more comfortable and convenient. A power pack the size of a matchbox might power a wearable computer for an entire day.

Personal robots: Autonomous robots require an enormous amount of electrical power for the operation of motors, artificial muscles and CPUs. Today's chemical batteries just don't deliver the horsepower. AIBO, Sony's robotic pet, only barks for 2-3 hours on a typical charge, and the working prototypes of humanoid robots from Japan only have enough juice for brief public performances.

Medical devices: The miniaturization of medical devices depends heavily on increasing the power density of batteries. From portable monitoring systems to handheld diagnostic devices, the medical industry would benefit greatly from a breakthrough in power density and portability.

Electric vehicles: To date, electric vehicles have bombed in the market due primarily to their lack of range (power density). That's the fault of the battery technology: it requires a thousand pounds of batteries to drive a vehicle the same distance delivered by four gallons of gasoline. While hybrid vehicles are finding tremendous success in the marketplace by packing both batteries and combustion engines under the same hood, tomorrow's vehicles could run off batteries alone if high density power storage systems were available.

Space exploration: The limitations of portable power are critical when it comes to space exploration. Battery requirements shape the scope of entire missions. The primary factor limiting the life and utility of the 2004 Mars rovers, for example, was battery life. With the help of higher density power systems, space exploration takes a quantum leap forward and unleashes spectacular new possibilities in remote sensing vehicles and manned missions.

Help for third world populations: Today, all over the world, hundreds of millions of people suffer from the devastating health consequences of nonfunctioning sewage systems, lack of running water, lack of communications technologies like radio, and other critical infrastructure failures. Many of these issues can be addressed with portable power systems, but not at today's price / performance ratios. If portable power can be made significantly less expensive, it can allow the dollars and efforts of international aid to produce greater results.  continues on page 2 →

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