DailyDirt: Tiny Generators... Instead Of Tiny Batteries?

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Battery technology just hasn't improved as much as other electronic gadgets. We have computers that are more powerful than room-sized mainframes on our wrists, but we still can't go more than a day without recharging a modern smartphone. We've seen suggestions of various kinds of portable fuel cells, but none seem ready for consumer gadgets just yet -- even several years after promising announcements. There are a bunch of ways of generating relatively small amounts of energy from everyday activities, so maybe we can generate electricity as we need it as we walk around. But probably not. After you've finished checking out those links, take 10% off any $50+ order from our Daily Deals using the promo code DAILYDIRT.
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Filed Under: battery, energy, evaporation, fuel cells, generators, mfc, microbial fuel cell, piezoelectric, thermoelectric, wearables
Companies: fujifilm


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  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2015 @ 5:16pm

    Tiny Generators? Just another type of battery

    From the sound of all of these ideas, you would still require to spend time charging, or peeing/walking/sweating/whatever, in order to recharge the battery. The real breakthrough in battery technology is a way to recharge them faster, measured in seconds. Just pass your phone or device near a wall socket, and a few seconds later its recharged.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Glenn, 29 Dec 2015 @ 7:32pm

    Presuming you could find a room-sized mainframe these days, if that computer on your wrist had to handle the workload faced by your typical mainframe, then it would melt after about a minute.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2015 @ 11:39pm

    Design Problem

    Sure, battery tech hasn't advanced as much as processor tech. but.

    If my smartphone had a battery as big as the one on my old nokia candybar, it would last hella longer.

    The idiots keep making batteries smaller for some reason.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Ninja (profile), 30 Dec 2015 @ 1:32am

      Re: Design Problem

      Agreed. I fail to see why a smartphone has to be razor thin. I personally dislike these models and wouldn't mind two or three extra millimeters for a better battery.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    scatman09 (profile), 30 Dec 2015 @ 5:42am

    but...but...

    but how will the government tax us if we're all generating our own off the grid energy?

    Waaaaa! I just wanna pay my fair share...Is that so wrong?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Spaceman Spiff (profile), 31 Dec 2015 @ 6:09am

    What would you call it?

    Pee in your socks to generate electricity? What do you name it? Electricipee?

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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