Fuel cell technology, which was developed by NASA during the opening rounds of the space program, creates electricity from chemical reactions between fuels. They've been seen as the power source for everything from future automobiles to in-home generators that take a house off the grid.

By 2012, said Atakan Ozbek, the director of energy research at ABI Research, between 10 and 15 percent of laptops sold worldwide will rely on micro fuel cells, not batteries, for power.

Micro fuel cells as small as a disposable cigarette lighter could be the answer. Using an 80-20 mix of water and methanol, they promise to deliver enough power to keep the next several generations of laptops and PDAs running a long, long time.