Battery Recycling

Americans purchase nearly 3 billion batteries a year. Improper disposal of batteries is an environmental hazard. Batteries contain strong corrosive acids and heavy metals such as mercury, lead, cadmium, and nickel. If burned, some of these metals are released into the air, polluting lakes and streams. Improper battery disposal makes landfills more hazardous, as these heavy metals leak from waste. 

Recycling batteries keeps harmful metals out of landfills, air, and water, also saving resources because plastic and metals recovered from old batteries are used to make new batteries. Some batteries, such as regular flashlight batteries, can safely be thrown in the trash, but it is still better to recycle them. 

In 1996, the “Mercury-Containing and Rechargeable Battery Management Act” was passed, phasing mercury out of certain types of batteries. The decline of mercury use in batteries continues today. The alkaline battery, for example, have no added mercury. Silver-oxide and zinc-air button batteries contain less mercury today and are gradually replacing mercuric-oxide batteries.
A few steps can be taken to reduce household battery waste: don’t buy new batteries if you already have some you can use; use hand operated products eliminating the need for batteries; and look for batteries containing less mercury and other harmful heavy metals. Rechargeable batteries are also useful in eliminating the need to buy, use, and dispose of batteries. However, they contain heavy metals, do not last forever, and must be disposed of properly. 

The Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation can help you find the proper places to recycle your used batteries.

Survey Finds Energy Should Come from Clean, Renewable Sources

This post brought to you by ABB. All opinions are 100% mine.

Energy is a vital part of human life. However, the way we harness and use it has a tremendous impact on our environment. As the human population continues to grow, the greatest challenge of our generation is going to be to how to meet the growing demand for energy without hurting the environment.

In an effort to reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the most important developments for change are expected to come by increasing energy efficiency. A new survey has found that public policy must pave the way for the adoption of new consumer habits and technologies. 

According to the Bloomberg Businessweek Research Services (BBWRS) 2010 Energy Survey, 78 percent of energy industry stakeholders expect energy efficiency to account for over half of the total CO2 reduction potential by 2030. Sponsored by leading power and automation technology company ABB, the survey also revealed that 20 percent of the contribution is expected to come from switching to renewable energy sources such as water, wind, and sun, therefore limiting the use of fossil fuels.

Change, however, doesn’t come easy. Due to stubborn consumer behaviors and the high costs of developing and implementing new programs, the survey reveals that public policy will make the greatest impact in the effort to adopt new practices and technologies.

When it comes to developing alternative energy sources, 35 percent of survey respondents favor the use of incentives for companies to create alternative energy sources over incentives to end-users to utilize renewable sources (32 percent).

What is the best way for the government to intervene in the effort? The majority of those surveyed said that governments should focus on improving and incentivizing smart grid technology.

The purpose of the BBWRS Survey was to understand the future of the energy market and to evaluate opportunities and barriers that exist in adopting new energy technologies. The program surveyed senior energy-industry executives at leading large and midsize companies. To learn more, watch the following YouTube video produced by ABB:

Self-guided windmill tours

You’ve seen them dotting prairie fields and the rolling foothills all across southern Alberta: wind turbines – tall, impressive, and even somewhat mysterious. How are they built? How do they work? How are the sites chosen? What exactly are they doing to better the environment? If you’ve ever pondered questions like these while passing by any of the several wind farms visible from Alberta’s southern highways, getting the answers is now as easy as the click of a mouse or a quick visit to any one of several tourist information centres around the province.

Vision Quest has released a self-guided CD audio tour that takes interested travelers on a journey to three of the company’s prominent wind facilities (McBride Lake, Summerview and Castle River) as well as several spectacular landmarks and attractions in between.

Entitled Journey Into the Wind, the 11-track disc provides an interactive and entertaining approach to learning about wind power. CDs are available at visitor information centres across southern Alberta and also online. MP3 audio files can be quickly and easily downloaded from the company’s web site (www.transalta.com/) directly onto an iPod, or burned onto a personal CD. “We’ve had so much demand for tours of our facilities, we needed a new way to provide the information,” explains Jason Edworthy, Vision Quest Managing Director, Market Development. “We hope that Journey Into the Wind will satisf people’s curiosity, and perhaps even encourage them to support clean, renewable wind energy development, wherever they may be from.” Two Calgary radio personalities are the familiar voices of the news announcer Christina Rowsell and Country 105’s Phoenix.

The tracks also include interviews with several Vision Quest staff members as well as local area residents. Peigan tribe Elder, Wilford Yellow Wings Sr. lends his voice and wealth of stories as a guide through the Peigan Reserve. Other tour highlights include the historic town of Fort Macleod and the Old Man River dam.

Look for Journey Into the Wind in the following tourist centres:
• Kootenai Brown Pioneer Village, Pincher Creek
• Fort Macleod Chamber of Commerce Visitor Information Centre
• 1884 Barracks Provincial Historic Site
• Head Smashed in Buffalo Jump Visitor Information Centre
• Claresholm Tourist Information Centre and District Museum
• Cardston Information Centre
• Frank Slide Interpretive Centre
• Lethbridge Visitor Information Centres
• Nanton Visitor Information Centres
• Crowsnest Pass Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Information Centre