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Rechargeable Batteries - Yes or No?
TheFifthElephant asks: "I currently use quite a few devices that require various size batteries and I feel horrible just tossing them when they die. I saw a recharger at a retail store today and was thinking to myself how much waste it would reduce by using rechargeable ones. Which units have you used happily and/or which units have you heard of/read about satisfying someone else? Are the more expensive units better? What chemical rechargeable batteries last the longest/recharge the most?"
You want to make a difference? Drive an efficient car (if you must drive one at all) and recycle what you can.
I don't see why people worry about batteries.
:-)
Hell, if you want to reduce your impact on the environment, try a few other sacrifices:
1) Adopt instead of breed.
You might as well adopt one if you plan on having kids (at least as ONE of them). If you don't feel adoption is your civic duty, they'll just accumulate and become a local nuisance. Then you'll need to pool your money with local businessmen, and hire off-duty cops to "clean up" the problem.
2) "Disposable diapers"
Need I say more?
3) Of course... don't expect a woman to give up this convenience while you parade around in a HumVee and a mow your lawn with a 20hp rider tractor. Otherwise you're forcing the burden on someone else.
4) Actually, you need a "push mower" like the old days. Save money and slim that fat ass of yours.
5) Lawn?? Plant a fucking tree you egotistical prick. You can still plant grass that's not harmful to the environment... it's called NATIVE grass. You'll not find it at the nearest local golf course...
6) Trees mean you don't need to water your lawn.
7) Or CHEM-LAWN(tm)
Actually, if you're stupid enough to lay toxic chemicals on your lawn, you have penis-size issues.
8) Don't listen to me... you'll end up spending more money on viagra...
Moderators: If the above ON TOPIC SARCASM offends your sensibilities, go ahead and mark me as Flamebait or Offtopic. The meta moderators will get you...
I know some of you will agree though
You're talking about supporting value systems of the countries producing them, but then you say go to TARGET or WAL-MART? If you activists want to have an impact, how about starting at home. China doesn't give 2 shits about whether or not you buy a pack of batteries. It's a pointless gesture designed to make YOU feel better. If you want to make a real impact, don't shop at Target or Wal-Mart. Those big box stores are blights.
Why are you saying "Made in China" = "Made in Taiwan"?
I like the way you go on and on about "Made in China" but actually recommended shopping at Wal-Mart.
I do not have a signature
Hmm...
do I patronise the Chinese manufaturer so that their employees can eat?
or do I patronise the American manufacturer so that their employess can buy A BIG SCREEN TV's at AL's TV EMPORIUM - SUNDAY SYNDAY SYNDAY - Save BIG at AL's on SUNDAY. Free hot-dogs, and baloons for the kiddies!.
Moneyed corporations, non-working 'poor' and criminal prisoners are turning productive citizens into tax-slaves.
You don't support American Multinationals working out of foreign countries because it's colonialism, economic albeit - but the same difference.
Go read No Logo by Naomi Klein.
For the most part, multinationals working out of Economic Protection Zones (EPZ's) attempt to get the highest rate of young girls from the countryside to work for them. This allows them to::: treat their workers like shit, pay them little, threaten them easily if they try to unionize, etc etc. - all leading to poor working conditions wherein the girls feel threatened and scared, wherein the girls feel they _have_ to keep working and sending piddly change home to mom and pop, all the while suffering so we can get Gap shirts and all sorts of consumerist b.s. for as cheap as possible.
So no, you are not supporting the Chinese. You are bringing them into economic slavery... Chinese gov't loves it.. the jobs bring in technology profit - but for the workers it is not an advancement.
Go read Small is Beautiful by E.F. Shumacher to see how I think one should work to bring the Third World to a good standard of living.
And as if they dude in the battery factory in the U.S. is living the large life. Give me a break. At least he may have a proper working environment where he is safe, he doesn't work his ass of for jackshit, and he may even be able to join one of those union thingies.
Too bad sweatshops are on Big Al's T.V.
help out.
This is not the case in my experience. I have used 650mAh AAA NiMH batteries with my Palm IIIx for about three years now. I have two sets of batteries (so one can recharge while still using the old set) and when travelling for long periods of time (several months) I've just charged both sets and used the second set a month later. There was a small loss of charge, but it wasn't a big deal.
Sure, you can't charge the things up and leave them for half a year. But when are you ever going to need to do that? In the very worst case scenario, you could always pack a travel charger - they're small and light.
I don't think I could begin to count the money I've saved by not having to change two sets of Alkaline AAAs each month (well, actually I could - it's several hundred dollars as opposed to an initial outlay of $40 for the batteries and the charger). And the capacity of NiMH batteries keeps getting better - you can now get 650mAh AAAs and 1850mAh AAs just about everywhere, which is a huge improvement on rechargables five or ten years ago
Patronize the American manufacturer, as the taxes they (and their employees) pay will, in part, include school taxes. One hopes that this, in turn, will benefit you, as you've obviously received a substandard sort of education, as evidenced by your atrocious spelling.
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Please mod the parent up, buying the cheapest batteries you can find is definitely bad advice. There is even a large quality margin in standard non-rechargable Alkaline batteries, not to mention the more complex rechargables. I always buy Duracell or Energizer alkalines, since they generally last 2-3 times longer than the el-cheapo brand. As for rechargables, the Alkaline rechargables (Energizer has some, as does a company called PureEnergy) are pretty good for the cost. The chargers are inexpensive, and the batteries don't cost much more than standard alkalines...the downside is they only last for 20-50 charges.
Hey, I think you missed his point. Well, first of all, China most certainly does give 2 shits if you buy their batteries. In fact, if they can "modernize" and grow their economy using their present value system, then they will see no reason to change it. Only by making clear that China's admission into the collective of successful economies hinges upon not only its economic capabilities, but also the ethical system upon which they are based, will their government see reason to change. Your issues with Target and Wal-Mart are, indeed, well founded but not entirely relevant to the parent's post.
and they encourage urban sprawl with this 'big-box-bs'. highways to outside of town to guy a bag of groceries? no f'ing way, you car drivers can start to *pay* for this idiocy. Im tired of my tax dollars going to build highways so *WALMART* can plop a massive, local-retail-destroying mega-shop on inexpensive land...
Do you see that your tax dollars go to enable Sprawl which in turn makes helps walmart mark "low prices"... "low prices" indeed.
this says nothing of pollution and habitat loss...
ive never spent a dime at walmart, and it *does* make me a better person.
Yeah, we shouldn't allow third world countries to advance at all untill we can figure out how to bring them to first-world living standards and human rights instantaneously. Can you honestly say that the average Chinese citizen is worse off now, both economically and in terms of human rights, than they were twenty years ago?
It took centuries for the first world to get to where they are. It won't take nearly that long for the rest of the world (if it can be done at all). Boycotting and trade barriers will only slow the process.