Combining the time-tested reliability and power of the internal combustion engine with the low-rev efficiency and emissions-free locomotion of an electric motor, hybrid vehicles have proven extremely popular with the American public. New hybrids are almost immediately in high demand, and with gas prices continuing to climb upward, the interest seems unlikely to flag anytime soon.
However, there are many downsides to hybrid technology that negatively affect both vehicle performance and the pocketbook of the American consumer. The weight of the combined battery and engine makes hybrids heavier than comparable vehicles. Existing battery chemistry can be very expensive to create, as it can contain a variety of rare metals. Disposal may increase the cost of ownership, too, due to the presence of highly toxic materials. Plus, popular lithium-ion batteries have a nasty tendency to explode.
But now, PowerGenix, a battery company based in San Diego, has developed an impressive, relatively environmentally friendly solution to the unique problems presented by hybrid-electric vehicles: nickel-zinc batteries. NiZn, with its 30% increases in capacity and power over existing batteries of similar size, is ideally suited for high-power, low-drain applications, such as HEVs. The use of a zinc, which is quite cost effective at less than a dollar per pound, offers excellent price savings compared to lithium-ion and metal hydride batteries. Reduced toxicity increases the ease of disposal, and the more stable battery chemistry eliminates the chances of an unexpected explosion.
NiZn power is not a new technology. Thomas Edison worked with NiZn during his career, and the technology has been used in transportation before, powering a few streetcars in Ireland during the 1930s and ’40s. Until recently, however, the Achilles’ heel of NiZn batteries had been their cycle life limitations.
But recent developments in the use of electrolyte additives have created NiZn batteries good through hundreds of cycles, making them a viable alternative to existing technology. Additionally, PowerGenix’ NiZn cells operate at 1.5v, the same voltage of existing disposable batteries, making them an ideal and longer-lasting replacement for the billions of alkaline batteries in use worldwide.
Realizing the potential of the technology, PowerGenix planned ahead, designing its NiZn batteries to be readily produced using existing infrastructure. “Technology design from the get go was for production on existing nickel metal-hydride and nickel-cadmium lines”, says PowerGenix CEO Dan Squiller. And the move has paid off—through an overseas supplier, PowerGenix will be able to produce some 1.2 million cells each day.
Like any other technology, NiZn batteries are not a magic fix. Existing zinc mining operations do have significant environmental downsides, and nickel, though used in most existing rechargeable batteries, remains a expensive. Still, these issues not withstanding, nickel-zinc batteries represent an exciting new frontier for hybrid vehicle development.
DepotEco Introduces PowerGenix AA Nickel-Zinc High Yield Technology Batteries, (IN STOCK NOW!)
Move over Li-ion , Zinc is about to get all up in your area. Energizer has already announced the Zinc Air Prismatic , and now DepotEco will carry the new PowerGenix Nickel-Zinc (NiZn) AA cells. (IN STOCK NOW!)
San Diego-based PowerGenix, developer and manufacturer of nontoxic, high performance NiZn rechargeable technology.
NiZn batteries provide greater power for today’s high drain consumer electronics, enabling superior camera performance compared to existing rechargeable batteries.
Despite rapid innovation in the capabilities of portable electronics, until recently, progress has been slow to develop batteries able to meet the demand of these power-hungry devices. With advanced NiZn performance, the NiZn has been introduced by PowerGenix to fulfill the growing needs of high drain digital cameras and accessories. By delivering a higher voltage than existing rechargeable cells, cameras equipped with NiZn cells benefit from brighter flash, shorter flash recovery time, and more shots per charge.
Earlier this year, PowerGenix’s NiZn technology was certified by the RBRC for collection and recycling, becoming only the fifth rechargeable chemistry recognized by the program. PowerGenix’s NiZn batteries contain no toxic heavy metals such as lead, cadmium or mercury and are the most recyclable rechargeable chemistry on the market.
Nickel and zinc are among the Earth’s most abundant elements, found virtually everywhere in our daily lives. These natural elements are found in the earth, in the food you eat and in a wide variety of products. Both elements are readily recyclable and many products on the market today come from these recycled supplies.
About Nickel
Nickel has many uses from construction materials to food preparation, but its many favorable characteristics make it an excellent choice in the use of high powered rechargeable batteries. For more information on nickel, its many uses and its metallurgical properties, visit the Nickel Institute.
Zinc Facts
Zinc’s unique properties allow it to be used in an array of products from cosmetics, to baby powder, to precision parts for automobiles, airplanes and appliances. The International Zinc Association notes that one of the most useful characteristics of zinc is its resistance to atmospheric corrosion. The ranking of zinc in the electromotive series of metals (an indication of a metal’s tendency to oxidize, or give up electrons) positioned below magnesium and aluminum but above cadmium, iron, nickel and hydrogen, make it an exceptional material to use in conjunction with nickel when designing a battery. The electronegative characteristics of zinc have made it a popular choice in a variety of primary (single use) battery technologies for many years.
Recyclability
More than 6.5 million metric tons of zinc slab, oxides, powders and dusts are consumed each year in the Western World, two million of which come from recycled zinc. In the United States, the Bureau of Mines estimates that with enhanced recovery, recycled zinc will ultimately account for more than 40% of the total amount of zinc used
Meanwhile, nickel’s resistance to corrosion means that when most nickel-containing products are eventually discarded, they are still intact and easily identifiable (e.g., a kitchen sink made of stainless steel). This aids in the collection and sorting of nickel-containing products for recycling.
Sustainability
While abundant, both nickel and zinc are finite resources. However, their innate characteristics and recyclability assure environmentally sensitive availability for long-term development. Unlike many other materials nickel and zinc can be recycled again and again while maintaining their physical and chemical properties. There remains the same amount of each element at the end of a particular product cycle as at the beginning.
The average American uses between 300 and 700 plastic bags per year. If everyone in the United States tied their annual consumption of plastic bags together in a giant chain, the chain would reach around the earth 760 times!
The rePETe Original Reusable Shopping Bag, now at depoteco.com
This bag is made from 7 plastic bottles 99% recycled content by weight rePETe Original
The rePETe Original Reusable Shopping Bag
ChicoBag rePETe Original Canyon Brown
Materials: Fabric 100% Recycled PET, Carabiner 97% Recycled Aluminium, Cord 100% Recycled PET, Cordlock 100% Recycled Polyurethane (Thread, Screen Print, Care Label Made from Virgin Material)
Dimensions:Bag 18 x 14.5- Pouch 3×4 (approximately)
Weight: 1.5 oz
Capacity: 25 lbs. (One gallon of milk is approximately 7 lbs.)
ChicoBag rePETe Original reusable shopping bag now at DepotEco.com!
The ChicoBag rePETe Original follows the Original reusable shopping bag design but is made from 99% recycled content by weight! Each rePETe has uniquely accented handles with the phrase, “This bag is made from 7 plastic bottles!” accompanied by a custom illustration. A list of the recycled materials used in manufacturing the rePETe is printed on the inside of each bag. All ChicoBags are reusable shopping bags designed to be unforgettable. They effortlessly fit in your pocket when they are stuffed into their integrated stuff pouch. Design encourages you to always have your ChicoBag on hand or pocket or purse.
What is PET?
Polyethylene terephthalate, abbreviated PET, is found in the polyester family and often used in the production of beverage containers like plastic bottles.
Learn the Facts
The average American uses between 300 and 700 plastic bags per year. If everyone in the United States tied their annual consumption of plastic bags together in a giant chain, the chain would reach around the earth 760 times! Learn more
Did You know…?
The average American uses between 300 and 700 plastic bags per year. If everyone in the United States tied their annual consumption of plastic bags together in a giant chain, the chain would reach around the Earth 760 times!
Windblown plastic bags are so prevalent in South Africa that a cottage industry has sprung up harvesting up to 30,000 plastic bags a month to weave into hats and handbags. – BBC
The world’s largest landfill can be found floating between Hawaii and San Francisco. Wind and sea currents carry marine debris from all over the world to what is now known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This “landfill” is estimated to be twice the size of Texas and thousands of pounds of our discarded trash, mostly plastics. Each year hundreds of thousands of sea birds and marine life die from digested plastics mistaken for food. –LA Times
Background on Bag Consumption
Single-use Plastic Bags:
First introduced in 1977, single-use bags, now account for 4 out of every 5 bags handed out at grocery stores.
According to the Wall Street Journal, 100 billion plastic shopping bags are consumed in the United States annually.
Cutting single-use bag waste in half would reduce our oil consumption by more than 2,000 barrels a day and keep out 73,000 tons of rubbish out of landfills.
EPA research has shown that only 1% of plastic bags get recycled while about 20% of paper bags are recycled.
Single-use Paper Bags:
Paper bags generate 70% more air and 50 times more water pollutants than plastic bags.
Paper in landfills doesn’t break down faster than plastic.
Solution:
Reusable bags! A sturdy, reusable shopping bag needs only be used 11 times to have a lower environmental impact than using disposable plastic bags.
Sources:
Paper or Plastic?, Healthwell
Reusable Bags Tackle Plastic Bag Mess, Organic Trade Association
“Paper Cuts: Recovering the Paper Landscape”, Abromovitz & Mattoon, Worldwatch Institute, Washington DC, 1999
Keep the Sea Plastic Free—Bin It, Australian Government, Department of the Environment and HeritageSea Turtles Don’t Shop, Earth Resource Foundation
10 Things You Can Do to Create a Reusable Bag Habit in your Community
Wage a campaign in your town or city to end the use of single-use bags by encouraging legislators to implement a grocery bag fee. Contact advocacy@chicobag.com for more information.
Talk to local community and environmental groups about the bag issue and find out if they want to get involved.
Create a petition asking for your city to take on the single-use bag problem. Circulate it at schools, universities, the library, grocery stores, farmer’s markets, and anywhere else where you can connect with your neighbors.
Encourage local retailers to start a smart bagging policy with these tips:
- Offer a bag refund to customers who bring their own bags.
- Place signs reminding people to bring their own bags
- Create a reusable bag drop-off for others to use.
- Create an in-store bag recycling program.
- Sell reusable bags in their store.
Bring an extra reusable bag to the grocery story the next time you shop and give it away to a stranger who doesn’t have them. Ask them to “Pay it Forward” and give a bag away the next time they shop.
Write a letter to the newspaper explaining the environmental problems with paper and plastic bags. Use our resources to help you come up with talking points.
Start a ChicoBag fundraiser to raise money for an environmental or litter prevention group. Contact fundraisers@chicobag.com for more information!
Stage a Bag Monster sighting in your community. Contact bagmonster@chicobag.com to set it up!
Give your friends and family reusable bags as gifts for birthdays, graduation, housewarming parties, and special holidays.
Set a good example by just saying no to single-use bags when you’re at the store. Others in line will follow suit!
At 140 lumens/watt, these pill-sized plasma light bulbs by Luxim are a pretty awesome contender for “light of the future”. They are almost 10 times more efficient than traditional incandescent light bulbs, twice as efficient as current high-end LEDs, and they also beat CFLs, most of which are around 50-80 lumens/watt. Only the prototype 300 lumens/watt nanocrystal-coated LEDs can hold a candle to them.
And the light from Luxim’s LIFI bulb is not ugly either: color rendering index (CRI) is 91. Lifetime for a bulb is estimated at 20,000 hours, and a relatively large amount of power can be pumped through them, allowing a tiny bulb to produce 30,000+ lumens (not something LEDs can do).
An RF (radio-frequency) signal is generated by the solid-state power amplifier and is guided into an electric field about the bulb. The high concentration of energy in the electric field vaporizes the contents of the bulb to a plasma state at the bulb’s center; this controlled plasma generates an intense source of light.
Luxim seems to want to use them in projectors, but since even a tiny light bulb can produce as much light as a street lamp, sky seems to be the limit if cost can be brought down.
Korg to Show eneloop Rechargeable Batteries at Musikmesse in Germany
03/26/2009 13:22 (06:03 minutes ago)
The FINANCIAL — SANYO Electric Co., Ltd. (SANYO) will exhibit eneloop rechargeable batteries at the booth of musical instrument manufacturer, Korg Inc. (Korg), during Musikmesse 2009 in Frankfurt, Germany.
The eneloop battery uses the world’s leading recharging technologies and promotes a lifestyle that values reusing and recycling.
Korg, a leader in the electronic musical instrument industry, will use the Musikmesse to further promote its best selling pocket-sized synthesizer, KAOSSILATOR, which operates using four AA batteries. Started over 25 years ago, Musikmesse is the world’s largest music trade show, and showcases instruments, sheet music, as well as music software and hardware from around the world, all under one roof.
Korg is also committed to addressing global environmental issues. At the Musical Instruments Fair held in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, in October 2008, the two companies held a joint event, where Korg equipped its KAOSSILATOR with eneloop batteries. Since then, Korg has in partnership with SANYO to investigate the technical performance of the eneloop battery as part of its desire to promote replacement of dry-cell batteries with rechargeable batteries in musical instruments. The investigation revealed that the stable voltage and resistance to cold temperatures provided by eneloop help to maintain sound quality. Eneloop combines outstanding environmental performance and superior compatibility with electronic instruments.
SANYO is working with Korg to offer musicians lifestyles with greater performance and environmental value, comfort, and enjoyment.
Combining the time-tested reliability and power of the internal combustion engine with the low-rev efficiency and emissions-free locomotion of an electric motor, hybrid vehicles have proven extremely popular with the American public. New hybrids are almost immediately in high demand, and with gas prices continuing to climb upward, the interest seems unlikely to flag anytime soon.
 "The rePETe Original Reusable Shopping Bag")
