The future of cheap battery power is bright

One of the future innovations I've been anticipating is the revolution in battery technology which should take place over the next few decades. In Robert Heinlein's novel Friday, he depicts a future where a revolutionary leap in energy storage, called a shipstone, leads to the creation of a corporate conglomerate which has extraordinary influence over world events due to it's monopoly on cheap power. Whether or not a revolution in battery technology will ultimately lead to a world governing corporate plutocracy or not, the rapid growth in our ability to store energy cheaply and efficiently promises to offer an explosion in battery powered devices which will change the way we live our lives.

MIT's Technology Review brings to us the recent development of a simple, cheap salt and pepper battery created from cellulose and a salt solution.

Researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden have made a flexible battery using two common, cheap ingredients: cellulose and salt. The lightweight, rechargeable battery uses thin pieces of paper--pressed mats of tangled cellulose fibers--for electrodes, while a salt solution acts as the electrolyte.

The new battery should be cheap, easy to manufacture, and environmentally benign, says lead researcher Maria Stromme. She suggests that it might be used to power cheap medical diagnostics devices or sensors on packaging materials or embedded into fabric.

The advent of cheap new battery technology, coupled with the rapid advances in solar electricity generation, we may soon see a real world equivilant of Heinlein's shipstones. Cheap power stored in cheaply and efficiently. That's a future I've been waiting for.

You Say You Want A Bio-Revolution? Well, You Know...,We All Want To Change The World.

Juan Enriquez Explains The Biology Revolution At TED 2009 from Keith Kleiner on Vimeo.

Hat tip to the blog Singularity Hub.

In 9 minutes Juan eloquently describes how major disruptive advances are coming to human civilization much faster than people realize.

Off the shelf biological components are being created that allow people to build organisms as if they were building a car or a machine.

Tissues and organs that will someday replace our old ones are being grown in the lab.

Man-made mechanical ears and eyes are on a path to not only match the capabilities of their natural counterparts, but shortly thereafter to exceed them.

We will see more and more news about revolutionary new bio-medical technology. In many way's it's exciting to think about being able to grow new teeth or new knees and cartilage. But there is also the danger misuse, that will turn out to be like an evil genie, which once unleashed, will never be captured again and put back into it's bottle.

Solar Battery Concept Which Is A Long Time Coming

A battery that only has to be left out in the sun to recharge it, is an idea which seems like an obvious combination of solar and battery technology. You would have thought that someone would have had that eureka moment already. Maybe they have, but this is the first time I've heard of it, and I'm pumped about the concept.

cnet's Damian Koh at his blog Crave, has a story about designer Knut Karison's application of present day solar technology and a common battery, which Knut calls a suncat.

Named after a feline basking in the sun, SunCat comprises flexible solar cell strips glued to NiMH rechargeable cells. With a conductive silver pen and flat wires recycled from a broken Canon lens, Knut managed to get a weak trickle charge connection. He admitted that the first prototype wasn't ideal, but he's working on a second model which may include a display for checking battery life and capacitors for more efficient charging.

It's obvious and it looks like an easy thing to do, I look forward to seeing this available soon. Can you imagine how many different ways these batteries can be used. Other than production, there is not another drop of carbon used to produce years of useful power for many hand held devices.