Diary of a Techy

Fuel Cell Technology, and the ONE-Wheel Concept

Imagine that your next motorcycle is a unicycle, powered by a hydrogen fuel cell! The EMBRIO is a concept transport vehichle from Canadian based Bombardier Recreational Products. It has...well i guess you could call it "landing gear" that deploy when speeds drop below 20kmph (12.4mph), althhough the unit's gyroscopes will balance the vehicle even while motionless. Steering is executed by shifting one's wait (leaning) rather than turning handlebars or a steering wheel. I know I want to be the first guy on my block to have one of these. Unfortunately fuel cells have a few hurdles that need to be overcome before everyone and they're brother will be driving cars powered by the technology. Which brings us to the next section...

Theres alot of buzz about fuel cell cars, but cars will not be the place we'll see fuel cells first. Where will we see them? The answer may be in your pocket, or on your lap:

Micro Fuel Cells
Mobile Phones, PDAs, and Laptops should start to utilize micro fuel cells to power them by the end of the year. That means your next phone, or notebook computer may be using this new technology. At first they'll give us power just as well as batteries, but within a few years our fuel cells will be getting much longer use out of our portable electronics than batteries ever could have. Companies already have prototypes and very soon we'll see working devices on the market.

This new technology will also fight pollution and waste problems on a grand scale. The fuel cell car's only byproduct is water vapor (compared to harmful carbon monixide and much more) and in the micro fuel cell world, batteries are bad for our environment to dispose of improperly (which I'm sure most are). Hopefully the obstacles preventing us from launching large scale fuel cells in the transportation industry will be overcome, saving the earth, our collective conscience, and some money if we're lucky.

Embrio One-Wheel Concept At Gizmag.com

The Fuel Cell Way A great website with lots of info (multiple languages)

posted by Ben @ 5:24 PM Perma-Link