If you’re reading this on a laptop right now, you’re probably well aware of how fast your battery drains as you’re sitting there.  And it probably bothers you when you need to make an important phone call, and your battery in your cell dies just as you’re dialing.  Yes, batteries most likely are the bane of your technological existence, and Newsweek wants you to know that you’re not alone.  In a world where everything is going more and more high-tech, battery power is lagging far behind, and has become a drain (haHA!) on the environment.

Computer chips double in speed every two years—your current BlackBerry is as powerful as your desktop computer once was—but the batteries powering those devices are improving by only about 8 percent a year.

If we’re ever going to ever get around to using a large quantity of renewable and alternative energy sources, battery technology is going to have to do a lot better than that.  Batteries will be essential to storing excess wind or solar power.

Solar cells and wind turbines require batteries because they provide power intermittently. The wind, for example, blows hardest at night when our energy needs are low, so storing that energy is essential to what utility companies call “load leveling.”

Those batteries are expensive to produce, so creating new battery technology is pretty clutch.  Also pretty difficult, as battery power is based on chemical reactions, thus limiting speeds.  But money is pouring into research, so we can keep our fingers crossed.  Until then, you can takepart by learning how to use the battery power we already have to help take your own home partially off-grid.