First hydrogen-powered cars, and now hydrogen-powered mobile phones. Will these alternate sources of fuel and power eventually become mainstream someday? The possibility doesn't seem far off at this point, with STMicroelectronics working on a mobile phone power system that uses hydrogen as a reserve power supply. More in the full article.

On the high-tech end of the alternative fuels scale, Honda's pushing its hydrogen-powered FCX concept from concept to production line as soon as possible, 2008 even. But a couple of notches below that, Honda's also pushing another alternative fuel for cars: natural gas. With the Civic GX. And it's a lot closer to home than hydrogen power - both tech-wise and fuel-wise.

Advantages of using compressed natural gas (CNG) as the fuel of choice, at least for the short-term: the fuel costs as little as one-third of gasoline prices. It's domestically produced. The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy calls it THE cleanest-burning fossil fuel on earth.

The only changes you need to make to a regular Civic are the CNG tank and fuel lines, and a specialized fuel injector. The estimated mileage you can pull out of CNG is about 29/39 mpg. And contrary to fears, CNG is less volatile than gasoline.

What's the bad news? How many public natural gas stations do you know of? Exactly. The GX's fuel tank holds only about, in gasoline terms, 8 gallons of CNG. Without a robust infrastructure of CNG pumps across the country, don't expect the GX to last you on a cross-country trip from the middle of nowhere to the middle of nowhere. Not unless you like pushing cars.

But wait! You can now gas up your natural gas guzzler right at home! Details of that at the full article.