Green Building Elements

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There are lots of electronic devices people use, and a large number of them are powered by batteries. Various music players, remote controls, and if you have kids, all manner of electric toys. And, if you are using alkaline batteries in these devices, you are probably going through lots of batteries.

We have been putting our money into buying rechargable batteries rather than disposable ones. Rechargable batteries are an obvious choice for a greener lifestyle.

On a recent trip to a certain well-known big-box home improvement chain store, we were appalled to find out that they do not sell any rechargable batteries there, although they had "economy packs" of alkaline batteries (36 size AA disposable batteries for $12).

I don't have enough electronic devices where I need that many batteries all at once. Like most people I suspect, I use my batteries sequentially, a couple at a time in a couple of devices. For that same $12, I could get 4 good rechargable batteries and, by the time I was on my 10th recharge, I'd be using nothing more than a couple pennies of electricity to charge my rechargables - they would have paid for themselves.

I would also be able to avoid the more than 2 pounds of waste that jumbo pack represents. Not to mention all the toxic materials in disposable batteries. Yes, batteries are going low mercury and "mercury free" (99.99%). But a "mercury free" battery still allows more than 2 milligrams of mercury in a 1 ounce battery. So, if you aren't using rechargables, make sure you are responsibly disposing of those alkalines. And, when they finally do expire, make certain to recycle your rechargeable batteries as well - there's a lot more useful material in rechargeables than is in disposables.

As was the case for us with compact fluorescent bulbs, we didn't go through the house and take out every bulb and replace them all immediately. Rather, we bought a few, and started using them, and used them more as we went along. The same thing is true for batteries.

If you have an electronic device that uses standard batteries, get two sets (so that you'll have one set in the device and another set that can be charged up when the others are getting low). Once you start doing it, it's easy to keep using the rechargables, and you'll be spending less of your money buying little toxic pellets to provide a few hours of electric power.

Philip says: Having a couple of kids, we have a lot of battery powered toys and devices around. But my older son has already learned to ask if the batteries inside a particular thing are "'chargeable" or not.