Hybrid cars on the rise...where is my hybrid computer?

Trent Christensen 1691

Sometimes I wish my laptop had an electric/gas option. When my battery runs low and loses charge an engine would start up and power it until the battery recharges :x

Jim Williams 2367

I only have one question..... how does he cool the system? That kind of speed must generate some serious heat issues.

Dave Wu 1597

Your hybrid computer may be on it's way. They are developing computer power supplies that can run on hydrogen peroxide.
Others already have solar power as a recharging option.

However, Comparing your car with a computer is like comparing apples and okra. A car is not stationary and requires tons more energy than a single personal computer will ever consume.

Ben Barton New Brain

I guess maybe people don't think about it in the same way, but just as technology has allowed us to fuel vehicles with alternative forms of energy, it is also going to be the reason that we will be able to power our homes and everyday electronics with "greener" forms of energy. Because, just like the way non-hybrids are fueled, most of the electricity we use comes from the burning of fossil fuels. So as these alternative forms develop with cars and become more efficient eventually they will move into larger scale where they will begin to power homes. So, although your computer may not have the cool "h" for hybrid on it, as alternative technologies advance your computer, along with other household electronics, will begin to use green energy the same way a hybrid does. And because electricity is electricity either way it is made, changing the source from fossil fuel oriented power to an alternative form will be much more efficient than having everyone who wants to be environmentally friendly going out and buying a new hybrid computer or cell phone, like those who want to drive more environmentally friendly have had to go out and buy a brand new car. So until main power providers have found an efficient alternative way of producing power, the minute amount of fossil fuels (which is what everyone is concentrating on eliminating in today's society) that your computer uses up in electricity, compared to the amount your entire home, along with everyone else, uses, is not enough to justify the development of a new technology that, while somewhat beneficial, is going to inevitably use up fossil fuels to be manufactured anyway, and may flop if the public does not take a large interest in it. So until this time arrives, the closest thing I think you will see to a hybrid computer is one that runs on electricity provided from a clean source of power.

Avijeet Tomer 1526

Your computer does not run on fossil fuels; and therefore has a much lower priority in worlds' governments' lists than that of others forms of technology that utilize them heavily.

Adam Beattie 1478

It brings up an interesting thought... namely, that of having to "feed" your computer... Basically, most "green technology" is either economically unfeasible, structurally unstable, or so freaking outlandish that nobody takes it seriously. Considering that biofuels actually have a much worse impact on the environment than petroleum based fuels, it may be a blessing in disguise.

Let me put it this way, electric cars are good in that they don't use nearly as much gas... however, those same cars needed to get plugged into an outlet that got electricity from a coal-fired, hydroelectric, or petroleum gas electric plant. Now, if this technology was relatively cheap, similarly low maintenence, and worked as well... everybody would switch over.

For the super-computers? Biocomputers are, for now, something that must remain in the realm of science fiction. Because (A) they would be incredibly expensive (B) it would be very, very easy to destroy it (C) it would be extremely exacting to mass produce... including many screw ups (D) it just sounds like a Gene Rodenberry runaway. If you really want to spend a ton of money to save your laptop from using consumer electricity, get some solar cells.

Unknown Brain New Brain

The thing that you have to worry about, saying you have a processor capable of a terrahert is the rest of todays components.. such as the speed of your ram, and the speed of your cache. If the speeds of these two do not change then the terrahert processor will be nothing better then any of todays. If we can put into use the technology of this new processor into the cache and ram as well as the mother board of a computer then yes it is worth the time and effor but until tthose components are sped up there is no use.

Cihan Aydin 1889

Ok, i talked about what i am sure now but if we consider nanotech i know a friend from BU who is working with a turkish proffessor named Kamil who is dealing in nano coating of materials and the energy transfer and wave accomodations and wave trapping in nanocoats. If this is a hot topic, traditional sense nanochips (silicon germanium based) are still way ahead from us. And what i got from you like the usage of bacteria as a energy source and storage source is brilliant, brings us one step closer to sci-fi.

Luke Kratofil New Brain

New creations like this always take time to get any exposure for a number of reasons, one being money, but the other being that the public and the press has no way of knowing what is real news and what isn't and in their ignorance they pass up amazing inventions and creations like this. As Cihan said theres also DNA computing and Quantum computing which are both trillions of times faster than binary, but they arn't getting much exposure at all as well. These advanced technologies seem to progress on an exponential scale. The growth and advancment is very slow at first, but as soon as a good number of people hear about them then they start to take off.

Cihan Aydin 1889

Still it is a challenge to change from binary computing (0's and 1's) to Quantum computing (i am not an expert on this subject) or DNA computing (using DNA bases A, G, T, C istead of binary system). I had a presentation once about DNA computing and bio computing using central dogma of biology (information encoded into DNA, messages produced and distributed by RNA's and the effect of the information is exerted via proteins) is still developing in theory so it is actually our understanding of the system is limited still to apply it as a way that we humans are created from our genome. So it is very difficult to synthesize a 200 bp DNA in vitro so think about 1 million bp for the need of storage of data...