As you pass by the battery shelves in your local store, which is the "Green Choice" for the average consumer?  This is yet another example of making smart choices that shouldn't hit your pocketbook very hard.  This is the first of many Great Green Ideas that we are going to show you, and if you can modify your habits just a little more each week, you will be a huge help to a very important cause.  

NICAD (Nickel Cadmium) batteries are obsolete rechargeable batteries that are also a problem for disposal.

Lithium batteries are powerful batteries, but expensive.  They are very toxic making disposal a serious problem.  They more we throw out, the worse it gets.  Note: Lithium Ion batteries will recharge, but they are not available in AA,AA, etc.  You will find them used in computer batteries, however.

Those batteries called "Heavy Duty and General Purpose" are mostly a waste of money because they run down far too fast.  Again, we are dealing with throwing away

Rechargeable Alkaline batteries are good, but they do not recharge very well.  They drain too quickly in devices like digital cameras, and their recharge capacity drops with every recharge.

What Batteries to Buy (Kinda Green) 

Honestly, batteries are one of those compromises with the enemy.  Batteries are both an upstream and downstream environmental issue.  We seldom think of what it takes to make them, or dispose of them; but that is part of the "Sustainable Lifecycle" that should be weighed in the Green valuation.  So, batteries are a way of life that will be around quite a while, so let's work on some better battery choices.

First of all, decide whether you are after single use

batteries or rechargeables.  Things like smoke detectors, flashlights, and clocks are good choices for the single use batteries.  For this, we recommend....

Alkaline batteries offer the most power for the investment.  If you are going to use alkaline batteries in a digital camera, then go for the ones made for high-drain equipment (like Duracell Ultra, Energize Advanced Formula, or Kodak Photolife). 

Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMH) are the better choice when it comes to rechargeable batteries.  These batteries have a higher capacity and do not decline in recharge capacity.  They are also good because they do not self-discharge because of inactivity. 

So, Going Green is not too tough.  You really have two choices, and it is merely a questions of single use (alkaline) or rechargeable (NiMH).  Remember these two items takes little effort and no extra time to take the next step forward into a Green Home and a better world over all.   If you suffer from memory loss on such topics, just remember to go to www.GreenHomes-League. com and we'll remind you.

Brands matter little here.  If you stick with these instructions,you will find that price andbrands have little bearing onthe subject.  By the way, learn to ignore the TV hype.  This is the poorest way of all to determine if something is Green or not.