Once, students failed to sharpen their pencils. Today, recharging the laptop battery is the class requirement. Power is a barrier and frustration to implementing widespread laptop use in a school environment, but new technologies promise improvement in this area.

Zinc Matrix Power ( Camarillo, CA), for example, was among the presenters at the 24 th International Battery Seminar and Exhibit. The company stands out for a new battery technology that, says the company, offers longer life and the environmental alternative of 100% recyclable and reusable components.

Marketed for laptops, PDAs, cell phones and other mobile devices, the rechargeable batteries, say company materials, deliver up to twice the runtime of traditional lithium-ion batteries. Based on silver, zinc and water, they contain no lithium or flammable solvents, and they are free from the risks of “thermal runaway,” fire and explosion.

The company currently holds sixteen key patents relating to rechargeable alkaline zinc batteries, and their financial partners include Intel Capital and a venture arm of the U.S. Army known as OnPoint Technologies. The company also won Intel’s prestigious “Technology Innovation Accelerated” when it unveiled the new battery technology last fall.

Source: http://www.zmp.com/co.html