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28
Aug
2008
Aug
2008
With all of this talk about going green and all of the possible directions to go green in, it's pretty hard to decide just how to go green. For instance, there is a lot of talk about ethanol-based energy.
Ethanol (its molecule pictured above), according to Wikipedia, is basically just alcohol--grain alcohol, to be exact. The thing is, grain alcohol burns really well, so logically, it makes a great fuel. It comes from corn, which, you'd think, is great, right? Except people need to eat corn, so there's a big debate about whether we should make more corn for ethanol, or, you know, feed more people.
That argument aside, ethanol can be used to power, in theory, a lot of things, but you wouldn't be
reading this on a site called "GadgetAddiction.com" unless electronic gadgets could drink up that yummy ethanol-sourced gizmo-juice.
Now, in an attempt to open up the world of ethanol-as-energy-for-gadgets to, well, everyone, Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies has released a cool little kit to help your kids, or you, learn more about how ethanol works
, this, according to an article at MarketWatch.com
.The Bio-Energy Kit
, is essentially, a power-plant with a built-in desktop fan. According to the official product page for the Bio-Energy Kit, the device converts ethanol directly into energy and claims that it with then run "non-stop for days, providing an amazing demonstration of next-generation fuel cell technology. Discover the possibilities today!"Well, OK then! Don't you just love enthusiastic product descriptions?
But whoa, wait--hang on--non-stop for days? That sounds pretty impressive, for just some booze in a plastic box. That is, unless, the fan spins reeeeally slowly. Also, it's not like it can power your iPod and certainly couldn't come close to helping your laptop if it's low on the stuff that makes it go. However, it does seem like a nice little introduction to one of the many options in the next generation energy war. The only real problem here is the kit's price--a cool $99US. Yikes--for that price, you might have fun just drinking the ethanol straight.