Hasta La Gadget!

Sony is set to show a hybrid fuel cell that will perform double duty. The cell can switch between the methanol fuel cell mode and the traditional lithium-ion battery system.

The hybrid cell system also offers the option to have both run at the same time. Sony will have two sizes, a portable version and a standard one, on display at what is billed as the world’s largest fuel cell exhibition in Tokyo.

Fuel cells are emerging as an attractive alternative because they are more energy efficient, quiet, non-polluting and longer life. (See here for a primer on how fuel cells work)

Sony also showed a bio-battery that is powered through the enzyme degradation of glucose, or more simply put by Coca-Cola or Mountain Dew.

The company did not offer any details on when the products would be available commercially.

[via Engadget]