Chip-Size Engine Could Replace Batteries

That's fascinating. My laptop (an IBM x-series ultraportable) only uses about 10 watts of power doing standard things like surfing the web, or word processing. Something like that could power it almost indefinitely as long as you had a bottle of fuel. Sometimes I carry more than one battery, and to a point, I suppose it kinda eliminates the point of having a 3 lb laptop. I read a Wired article a while ago, about using the same technology as computer chip manufacturers to make tiny piston engines operated by bottled hydrogen, which would power a small generator of sorts. Even if this was possible, either type of engine, I wonder how loud it would be. I don't think that many people would put up with a terrible buzzing sound emanating from their computer, or steamy gasses escaping from the back side.

And also, I think that this is the only way to get more energy per pound out of any kind of power source. You can only put so much energy into a chemical battery, until it becomes a ticking bomb or fire hazard, kinda like what happened to all those Sony batteries (stupid sony...). It's harder to make a stable chemical battery, than it is to store a bottle of most kinds of fuels.

How long before they can run on methane? I see a potential here for bean-eating computer programmers never running out of fuel......I'll just have to sell my BEANO stock.

"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain."

If this size engine turns 100 times faster than a jet engine, one must ask if that speed would be maintained if you built one the size of a jet engine? At 100 times speed I could imagine only 1 or 2 engines producing all the electric power the east coast might need for years to come.