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trulite

A practical consumer fuel cell, coming soon

At CES 2008, I talked with several companies, some for work and some for Speeds and Feeds.

Although I saw many interesting products, I'm really looking forward to one product in particular that isn't due to ship until October.

It's the HydroPak fuel-cell power supply from Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies. It produces up to 25 watts of power from replaceable solid fuel cartridges and water. A single refueling can produce about 270 watt-hours of energy through the HydroPak's standard 110V AC power outlet and two auxiliary USB power jacks.

This electricity is expensive-- $20 for a … Read more

Two new commercial fuel cells--'green,' but not perfect

My buddy Michael Kanellos wrote a CNET article (here) about a portable fuel-cell power supply from Trulite.

Kanellos made a small error in his article (or Trulite did when they briefed him), describing the device as using a chemical reaction involving "sodium hydride" to extract hydrogen from water.

That surprised me, since sodium hydride is extremely caustic (it's a base, the opposite of an acid), strong enough to be dangerous if exposed to air or water.

Well, not to worry. According to the company's website (here), the chemical is actually sodium borohydride, a safer compound.

That … Read more