The Economist Reveals the Real Energy Crisis

[Jonathon Watkins]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.economist.com/business/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3546049' target='_blank'>http://www.economist.com/business/d...tory_id=3546049</a><br /><br /></div><i>"According to unpublished research by the Boston Consulting Group, the amount of energy that a battery can store (its energy density) is growing by 8% a year. Mobile-device power consumption, meanwhile, is growing at more than three times this rate, as backlit colour screens, high-speed wireless networks and more powerful microprocessors draw ever-larger amounts of power."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/CWB253.gif" /> <br /><br />That graph of battery energy density versus demand says it all. There may be trouble ahead. One new 3G phone apparently has a talk-time of 40 minutes when using the videophone. Nice! The Economist suggest that miniature fuel cells may 'solve' the mobile-energy crisis at some point, but until then consumers face unappealing choices. We can charge our devices more often, carry spare batters or use less features to conserve battery power. It's never good when your choices essentially boil down to a rock or a hard place. :?

[surur]

This is a problem, but I would rather be given the choice of having the features and then deciding how much power to use, as apposed to a crippled device such as the Mpx or 6300 series with very slow processors and low ram to "conserve" power.

Surur

[Jonathon Watkins]

..I would rather be given the choice of having the features and then deciding how much power to use, as apposed to a crippled device such as the Mpx or 6300 series with very slow processors and low ram to "conserve" power.

Totaly agree, which is why I did not give that as an option. ;-)

[btorbik]

The flip side of the Economist article is that the power consumed by new features can be greatly decreased. CPUs are an interesting example. The earliest PDAs used 12 volt CPUs. This evolved to 5 volts, and later 3.3 volts. The latest implementation of the ARM processor used in Pocket PCs can use as little as 0.9 volts, and more typically runs on 1.8 volts.

There are significant efficiencies that can be wrung out of backlit color screens, and probably networking features, that would be able to extend battery life further. Intel has been trying to get component manufacturers to agree to improved specs concerning power requirements, but the results are evident in this article.

Fuel cells are an interesting technology, but as far as I'm aware are a long way from commercial use in handheld devices. Battery technology can wring a lot of additional capacity out of Lithium Ion and Polymer batteries, too, but the best opportunities for increased battery life are to reduce power consumption.

On another note, the California government recently required electronics manufacturers to reduce the voltage required when a device is in standby mode from 10 volts to 2 volts by 2009, or less. A small example of how a modest specification change can bring some tangible improvement to our overall energy supply situation, and an example of what PDA manufacturers should be doing, too.

[Tye]

In my totally unqualified opinion I think things will start to move to the route of the new 2700 and 4700 iPaqs. At least for the forseeable future.

What I mean is that the actual product won't get too much bigger because of miniaturization but the batteries will continue to increase in size. My 4700 averages around 7 hours of battery life right now. So, I wouldn't be surprised to see products where the battery was 60%+ the total volume of the product.

People just won't tolerate a product that works for only 40 mins (at least not in the long run product cycle).

Also, as mentioned above, OLED's and low voltage CPU/wireless will probably start to become popular in the next year or two and should make a considerable impact.

And then, of course, at *some* point there *will* be a breakthrough in "battery" technology that will ease some of this. Technology won't stop advancing.

That's my unqualified opinion and I'm sticking to it.

[amnon]

All we need is the miniatured version of Mr Fusion from Back to the Future II - we'll just toss the remains of our lunch to it.

On a more serious note, when will we have solar cells on PDAs or movement charging like we have on watches for a while now? After all, if we carry the PDA with us when it's not docked, unless we sleep with it (and I can't belive any of us likes his/her PDA THIS much...), then either it is docked or is moving with us, thus possibly being charged as we shake it around.

How about a stylus with a battery in it that gets charged by movement and then gets depleted onto the main battery when the stylus is in the PDA?

I think that with a little creativity there are solutions out there that are more disruptive than simply improving existing battery technology (which is as surprisingly "old").

[Jonathan1]

Options:

I. charge our devices more often
2. carry spare batters
C. use less features

I'll take choice C for $500 Alex since I don't need everything and the kitchen sink in my phone. :roll:

Honestly. I have my phone, my iPod, and my PDA. When my phone dies I can still work on my PDA. When my iPod dies I'm not left with a useless phone. You are left with a couple more items to carry but for me its worth it in that I don’t have to charge all my devices every day. I can generally go a day or two with my PDA. A week with my iPod. And well my phone’s battery already sucks so only about a day and a half.

[Tye]

All we need is the miniatured version of Mr Fusion from Back to the Future II - we'll just toss the remains of our lunch to it.

On a more serious note, when will we have solar cells on PDAs or movement charging like we have on watches for a while now? After all, if we carry the PDA with us when it's not docked, unless we sleep with it (and I can't belive any of us likes his/her PDA THIS much...), then either it is docked or is moving with us, thus possibly being charged as we shake it around.

How about a stylus with a battery in it that gets charged by movement and then gets depleted onto the main battery when the stylus is in the PDA?

I think that with a little creativity there are solutions out there that are more disruptive than simply improving existing battery technology (which is as surprisingly "old").

I like the idea, those kinetic watches are cool but thinking how little power a watch uses and I don't see a kinetic device being feasible.
Solar also, it sounds neat but my device stays in pocket or case and never sees light except when I'm using it. Again, I'm just not sure there would be enough power to run a device this way.
But hey, I hope someone proves me wrong. I'd love more battery life if it doesn't mean carrying a car battery in my pocket.

[Tye]

The flip side of the Economist article is that the power consumed by new features can be greatly decreased. CPUs are an interesting example. The earliest PDAs used 12 volt CPUs. This evolved to 5 volts, and later 3.3 volts. The latest implementation of the ARM processor used in Pocket PCs can use as little as 0.9 volts, and more typically runs on 1.8 volts.

There are significant efficiencies that can be wrung out of backlit color screens, and probably networking features, that would be able to extend battery life further. Intel has been trying to get component manufacturers to agree to improved specs concerning power requirements, but the results are evident in this article.

Fuel cells are an interesting technology, but as far as I'm aware are a long way from commercial use in handheld devices. Battery technology can wring a lot of additional capacity out of Lithium Ion and Polymer batteries, too, but the best opportunities for increased battery life are to reduce power consumption.

On another note, the California government recently required electronics manufacturers to reduce the voltage required when a device is in standby mode from 10 volts to 2 volts by 2009, or less. A small example of how a modest specification change can bring some tangible improvement to our overall energy supply situation, and an example of what PDA manufacturers should be doing, too.

Somewhere between the above quote and what I said is what I believe is likely to happen. It will be an interesting trip either way.

[amnon]

I like the idea, those kinetic watches are cool but thinking how little power a watch uses and I don't see a kinetic device being feasible.
Solar also, it sounds neat but my device stays in pocket or case and never sees light except when I'm using it. Again, I'm just not sure there would be enough power to run a device this way.
But hey, I hope someone proves me wrong. I'd love more battery life if it doesn't mean carrying a car battery in my pocket.

Since we move around with our PDA when it's closed I wander if a kinetic charging device won't be able to produce more juice than the stand by mode.

Hey, imagine if someone finds a way to cram more juice in batteries like they do with memory chips? I refuse to believe that there is nothing to invent in the battery domain.