I was impressed when my current MacBook could live for four hours on one battery charge; I was even more impressed when the new MacBooks could squeeze out five hours. How would you like to hit 20 hours on one charge or re-fill? panasonic has announced a breakthrough in fuel cell technology that will allow for a fuel cell small enough to fit in a laptop or power portable electronics.

Panasonic's 200cc fuel cell, weighs just 320 grams and runs on a methanol concentrate that can be stored in bottles. This fuel cell, even in its current configuration, will represent a massive leap forward in green computing, power savings, and energy economy.

Panasonic is not anticipating these fuel cells to be commercially available until 2012, but who knows what developments will erupt in the mean time. Energy issues are about to get shockingly interesting.

Source.