The Grass is "Greener"... on our side

Green Consumer Device: Solar to power our mobile device

If you want to understand what the future of consumer mobile will look like, you should turn to Apple.

And if you want to understand what Apple's future products will look like, you should turn to Apple's patent applications.

If you follow my blog, you may have read about this here (back in 2006), when Apple filed for new interface. This interface has since taken over the mobile world...

So what will the future of mobile consumer device hold, as Apple views it? Well, of course - the future is green, with sun light powering (or at least enhancing) the power of our mobile device:

From a recent patent filing by Apple, it seems the company wants to place solar cells under the LCD touch screen inside a range of portable devices such as iPods.

As claimed here, this is not simple to achieve, mainly due to the fact that the solar power in a panel is directly proportional to its surface area, and the screen areas in portable devices tend to be small. But as we know, the iPhone and iPod have large screens that occupy most of the front of these devices, allowing more solar cells to be stacked beneath the display. The power collection component of the system also has to be redesigned, to support partial shading, for example by users gripping the device.

Several attempts have been made at this previously, but as we've seen already, none have which had much success (costs, form factor, usability). But as we all know, if anyone can overcome these hurdles and make it happen, its Apple.

 

 

 

Technorati Tags: Solar Mobile Device,Apple,Patent

Oil "Super Spike" to reach $200...

Arjun Murti, the head of Goldman Sachs energy research team, is considered one of the best oil analysts out there.

He foresaw $100 oil prices when the market was at $50.

The group this week predicted that oil prices could reach $200 this year.

While some may look at such prediction with concern - its important to realize the huge boost high oil prices have in enabling alternative technologies to displace existing energy supplies:

"The ultimate benefit of going through an energy crisis is that while it's painful for a period of time because you are paying higher prices, you are going to end up with a world that uses less crude oil.

Higher prices would stimulate technological innovation in transportation and alternative energy, and encourage consumers to make more energy efficient choices", Murti said. He gave the example of a consumer choosing a fuel efficient hybrid vehicle instead of an SUV.
"All these things will reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil and help improve our environment," Murti said, "but it comes at the price of higher oil prices in the short term."

We all know that as demand grows for alternative energy technologies (such as hybrids), scale production will increase, driving costs down further, and increasing demand... creating a virtuous cycle that will significantly decrease dependence on oil...

And all the sudden - this doesn't seem like such a distant dream.

(Seeing the impact $4 per gallon gas prices has on people here in San Francisco (buying a hybrid is becoming an increasingly easy decision)... its not hard to imagine what will happen at $8 per barrel...)

 

Technorati Tags: Oil Price, Alternative energies, $200 Barrel, Hybrid