While we look for crucial alternatives to the oil crisis , there are side effects of hybrid technology which will create waves in the computer industry. Since the basic issue is of being able to charge and keep batteries powered for a longer time (at least in case of hybrids and electric cars) ; similar solutions may be used for powering up laptops. After all a laptop would require just a small percent of a cars power to run. Whatever the case, scientists are making rapid strides in powering notebooks with fuel cells.

PolyFuel, a company based in California, has a working prototype that converts methanol fuel to electricity that can run a laptop computer. The Lenovo T40 ThinkPad is used as PolyFuel’s prototype which uses the renewable fuel resource.

The best part? The fact that the fuel cell can be made from biodegradable or recyclable material and when it has reached its end of life does not have to end up in a land fill or a costly hazardous waste processing facility. The power stored inside the battery at full strength would be equivalent to 10 times the power stored by your conventional Li-Ion battery.

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