Figmentations

A CNN report from this week’s International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Vegas showcases a few new gadgets that run on “alternative power”. One of these alternate power sources includes water, but not the hydropower type. In particular, the water-powered gadget that caught my attention was a water-powered fuel cell for a cell phone, which is no doubt an intriguing concept.

However, even though these gadgets are expensive now as long as the technology is new, if they ever did become affordable to the general public, I’m not sure that people would or should consider water to be the ubiquitous energy source that it may appear to be. Clearly some countries, such as China, Darfur, and Iraq, are experiencing tragic shortages in drinking water even today.

Granted that even though water-based energy probably doesn’t need to be of a drinking water quality, its availability and portability does pose serious challenges. Also, we can’t assume that bottled water would be what feeds this water-powered fuel cell, but it isn’t that far-fetched a likelihood either. Let’s consider the impact of that possibility for a moment.

Consider the potential environmental impact of portable bottled water being used as a fuel source with these key facts from the January-February 2008 issue of AMC Outdoors magazine entitled: “Turn on the Tap: Though popular, bottled water has its dissenters”.

Scary Facts:

• Fact #1: “Americans spent about $11 billion on bottled water in 2006, an 8.5 percent increase over the previous year, according to the Beverage Marketing Corp.”
• Fact #2: “According to the Pacific Institute, 17 million barrels of oil were used in the production of plastic bottles last year and less than one in five containers made its way to a recycling facility”. Note: Not all plastic bottles are of the water-filled type, but even a percentage of this figure would still be staggering.

Action-Based Facts:

• Fact #1: The International Bottled Water Association (IBWA)…says companies are working to reduce their environmental impact by using lighter weight plastic…and more fuel efficient transportation.”
• Fact #2: Also, as referenced in this article, check out the”Think Outside the Bottle” Campaign by Corporate Accountability International which is working to hold the bottled water industry accountable.

The logistics of a portable water-powered fuel cell concept will definitely need to be addressed should the product work well and gain in affordability and popularity.