It may be another year before we see hydrogen powered fuel cells being used in laptop batteries, but the technology is already being used to power camcorders. Instead of nickel metal hydride or lithium-ion, strap a hydrogen tank to your camcorder.

Jadoo Power Systems makes hydrogen fuel cells, camcorder adapters and charging stations. The fuel cells are called N-Stor cartridges. An adapter mounts to a camcorder via an Anton Bauer Gold Mount. The cartridges come in 130 watt-hour and 275 watt-hour capacities. An LED readout on the adapter shows power draw and how much power is left.

The N-Stor cartridges contain a hydride compound that becomes charged with hydrogen. The hydrogen bonds with the hydride. Cartridges can be hot-swapped out, without having to stop the camera.

According to Mike Downs, vice president of worldwide sales, the cartridges don't suffer from the same problems as traditional batteries. "The cartridges retain their charge and will never lose their storage capacity," Downs says.

Down says that the cartridges can be recharged up to 10,000 times.

The Fillpoint charging station connects to a hydrogen bottle. When an N-Stor cartridge is inserted into the station, hydrogen starts flowing from the bottle and into the cartridge. Up to four cartridges can be charge simultaneously.

It takes 20 minutes to reach a 70% charge. In one hour, it reaches 100%.

Are fuel cells safe? According to Mike Downs, vice president of worldwide sales for Fillpoint, the cells are very safe. In the picture above, the left cell was over pressurized to more than 3,000 psi. A crack developed, but the canister did not explode. The fuel cell on the right was thrown into a bonfire. It also did not explode.

For law enforcement applications, the Jadoo cells were subjected to a bullet impact test. "Because they cells are under low pressure at 200 psi, nothing much happens," Downs says.

For $3,495, you get the charging station, two fuel cells and the camcorder adapter. The hydrogen is not included.

Downs was a good sport and agreed to appear on video to demonstrate some of the cool features of the Jadoo power system.