In the past, I've always been pretty negative on the prospects for the portable fuel cell market for handheld or even luggable electronic devices like large laptops.The insurmountable problems as I saw it were;

1. The energy density is not that much higher than lithium ion batteries 350 compared to 200 watt hours per kilo. Better, but not revolutionary.
   
2. Who wants to have the hassle of having to buy something else from the shops on a regular basis for their electronic equipment? I always wince at the thought of buying new cartridges for my printer  Why would consumers take to buying methanol cartridges for their mp3 players, phones and laptops when they can conveniently recharge their batteries at home?
3. Despite all the hype, just like their larger cousins in the auto industry, you have never been able to buy micro fuel cells anywhere unless you are part of government or a tv science documentary
   
4. After some well-publicised terrorist incidents, the chances of being allowed to carry any sort of combustible fuel - i.e. methanol, gas, etc. - onto a commercial airliner were somewhere between nil and zero.

So I was most interested to read in this week's Economist, that I may now be proved wrong . . . henceforward !

Portable fuel cells, may yet be on the way. And this is why according to the Economist article, in my preferred order of importance;

i) America's Department of Transportation is planning a rule change from October 1st to allow passengers and crew to bring fuel-cell-powered electronic devices and one or two fuel cartridges on board in their carry-on baggage. THIS IS AN EARTHQUAKE. Probably the biggest stumbling block of all is about to be removed to the adoption of consumer fuel cells. Where America's Department of Transportation goes, others will meekly follow. Although each passenger would initially be entitled to only 200ml of fuel - a measly 70 watt hours with current technology.

ii) Toshiba is going to start making them within a year for laptops and mobile phones. BIG DEAL. When top laptop manufacturers are entering the consumer fuel cell arena with that sort of intent, take notice.

And yet, I still think that by and large, micro fuel cells seemed like a poor solution to a not very big problem. As I've discussed before, the only real customers for portable fuel cells right now - are soldiers, often special forces, or the emerging intelligent infantryman, who are increasingly deployed are a long way from a mains socket. Moreover, the emergence of micro laptops with 9" and 7" screens, had extended the run time of lithium ion powered laptops without mains power to nearly 9 hours.

Anyway, take a careful look at the AEI global list of fuel cell stocks here and make your own mind up.