CES2010: Green power

A few items I saw:

Solar/wind:

The Hymini Biscuit, powered by either solar or wind, uses 2 AA batteries as power reservoir. To charge 2 900mAh batteries, takes 12 (12??) hours of 9 mph wind or 6 hour of solar. Usb connector.

Solio battery pack, with 3 big dragonfly-wing solar panels that are collapsable, 1650mAh. Usb connector

The Surge solar case for iPhone. Puts a Solar panel on the back of your iphone. 1500mAh capacity. Couldn't find out how long it takes to charge but the booth rep said it takes 2 hour to charge 30min talk time. Sounds slow.

Hmmm. Personal portable solar is a nice idea, but for one thing I'm never outside for that long, my office is not near a window, and a power source that takes longer to charge, than my phone takes to discharge, is a non-starter. But a cool concept. I think community solar farming - where a group shares the output of a large solar array - is probably more efficient for a technology with a high install cost.

Fuel cells:

Horizon Minipak Fuel Cells, for consumers. You could not get near this booth. Fuel Cells is such a buzzword right now. The hydrogen cartridges are slightly larger in diameter than a AA battery (22mm), and about 3.5" (81mm) long, weighing 90g, storing 12Watt-hours. This would charge my blackberry's 1200mAh battery about 10 times!! The Metal Hydride "creates the highest volumetric energy density of any form of hydrogen storage, including liquid hydrogen." The odd thing is the cartridge charger that delivers the hydrogen gas to the cartridge is...wall powered?! This doesn't get you off the grid exactly but does give you fairly high-density and "portable energy in one package, at a lower cost than existing rechargeable battery-based options." A solar front end is in the works, but I wonder how big a solar panel would be needed to capture 12Watt-hours in, say, a day.

A few "old skool" chargers:

MiPlus keychain charger - tiny box approx 1" cube, holds 320mAh. Mini usb jack to plug directly into your device. Low capacity but the perfect size. I can't find this item on the internet but iLounge has already identified a much higher capacity USB charger, the Just Mobile Gum that stores 2200mAh in a device the size of a pack of gum.

HyperMac Nano iphone/ipod battery. Not solar, just an external battery pack in colors to match your Nano, with Ipod connector built in which is pretty handy. 1800mAh - charges an iphone twice.