Other sources of power could include a kinetic power source similar to those found on some wristwatches.

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Such solutions are clearly some way off commercial development, but with Apple rumored to be designing its hotly-anticipated iWatch around a power source based on kinetic and solar power, a battery-free world isn't such a distant dream.

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Hamilton, 24, said the Kers (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) power-boost system - which Ferrari are also using - proved "anything can happen" and the Briton is optimistic he can replicate the pace he found in Hungary.

BBC: McLaren talk up Kers 'advantage'

Not to be outdone, England just flipped the switch on the world's largest wind farm, and in Paris, Schneider Electric set up kinetic energy-harvesting tiles that generate power from runners in the Paris Marathon.

ENGADGET

Red Bull will accept that they are likely to get passed by a McLaren or Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari, who have the benefit of the kinetic energy recovery system (Kers) power boost on the run down to the first corner.

BBC: David Coulthard column

It was also a hot week for energy-generating tech as Intel unveiled a solar laptop chipset that can be powered by a desk lamp and MIT developed a tiny kinetic generator that can produce 100 times more power than previous devices of its kind.

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Elsewhere, some innovators are experimenting with devices that draw power from the human body's kinetic energy.

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However, the electrical version of KERS is not the only nor possibly the best way to capture kinetic energy during braking and use it to boost power.

ECONOMIST: Tech.view: Boost for Formula One | The

The battery, developed by Zhong Lin Wang and colleagues at the Georgia Institute of Technology, converts the kinetic energy from motion into chemical energy, which can then be used to power any device.

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