Better Fuel Cells

Futurepundit links to a report on some tiny fuel cells being developed at the University of Houston.

Compared to the macroscopic size of traditional fuel cells that can take up an entire room, thin film SOFCs are one micron thick – the equivalent of about one-hundredth of a human hair. Putting this into perspective, the size equivalent of four sugar cubes would produce 80 watts – more than enough to operate a laptop computer, eliminating clunky batteries and giving you hours more juice in your laptop. By the same token, approximately two cans' worth of soda would produce more than five kilowatts, enough to power a typical household.

If these fuel cells could be adapted to work with the somewhat impure hydrogen from this process, then you could see an end to fossil fuel use for power in this country. If, of course, all of this could be done cheaply enough.