Recharging your batteries
Posted by DavidM in Save energy | 10 August 2006
Although we’ve always used rechargeable batteries in our cameras, we’ve rarely used them elsewhere around the house. With two small children we have a lot of gadgets and we get through batteries quickly when they keep leaving toys on overnight.
This gets expensive and environmentally damaging. Around 680 million non-rechargeable batteries were sold in the UK in 2001 and only 2% are recycled. Rechargeable batteries can replace up to 1,000 non-rechargeable batteries saving energy used in their production and land-fill space.
So I decided to buy a bulk supply of rechargeable AA and AAA batteries. As usual you can get good prices shopping online and I bought mine from Battery Logic though it's worth checking around. Watch out for Amazon – the batteries were cheaper than elsewhere but the delivery charge nearly doubled the cost.
Go for Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries as they don’t suffer memory loss, can be charged up to 1,000 times and contain the least harmful materials. Also, look at the power level. The higher the mAh level, the longer the batteries will last between recharges.
I felt light headed spending £50 on batteries but if they last for 1,000 charges each it'll work out far, far cheaper than non-rechargeables.
So as the old alkaline ones fail they are being replaced from my stack of rechargeable batteries. Another small step to reduce the family’s impact.
The next thing is to get a solar battery charger so I’m not using grid electricity to charge the batteries back up.
Comments
I'd be really interested to know what savings you make in a month, when you add up all the little environmentally friendly lifestyle changes you've made !
I've been using rechargeable batteries for a while. It becomes second nature once you buy a decent camera - you have to keep loading the external flash with batteries.
So, what really bugs me is my notebook pc. Why can't I buy something that will allow me to discharge and refresh its battery, therefore extending its life?
I can't measure savings early on as it's actually costing me more. For example, rechargable batteries are more expensive than alkaline batteries.
However, I shouldn't need to buy AA or AAA batteries for years now so over the longer period I'll save money.
Things like switching off electrical items on standby will have an immediate effect with no upfront cost (other than irritating my wife) so I'll check my electricity bill and see if I've reduced my consumption compared to this time last year.
