Baby steps to getting green V

I finally took the plunge and invested in some rechargeable batteries. The initial investment is kinda steep, right around $50. But for that I now have 4 AAA and 8 AA batteries along with 2 chargers.

The 2^nd charger is pretty handy, as I keep it at work to juice-up the batteries for I use for my wireless keyboard and mouse. (I now feel much less guilty for using those.)

I went with Duracell, mostly because they were (nearly) giving away the chargers and they were reasonably priced.

I steered clear of Energizer because of bad reviews online. Duracell got decent reviews online, but Rayovac got higher marks. I saw all brands available at Target this weekend. Though I got the deal on the chargers at OfficeMax.

So far they are working very well. But having had them for just over a week I cannot give good 'real world' assessment as they haven't run outta juice yet.

However, the coolest realization I've come to in making this move, is that most of the stuff I use daily (cell phone, laptop, mp3 player) already utilize rechargeable batteries. Which is cool because the same can probably be said for you. So this really is a baby step and should be a pretty easy move to make.

About the only items I own that need 'traditional' batteries are my TV/home theater remotes and Wii-motes. So the $50 investment should last me for quite a long time. And the prospect of never buying batteries again is pretty sweet...they always seem to be the thing you forget to buy until you are half-way home from the store.

One note, I do still have some non-rechargeable batteries laying around (I said these were baby steps). But I recently discovered that my office collects dead batteries for recycling. So take a couple minutes and ask around at your office to see if your company participates in such a program. If so, truck them into the office monthly, I know it helps me feel a little better about prior portable power transgressions.

*While on the topic of green and energy I thought I'd direct you to this web site: http://www.earthhourus.org/main.php Save this date: March 28, 2009 8:30 PM as a gesture towards acknowledging energy consumption and it's affects on climate change, I am encouraging you to take part in Earth Hour. All you need to do is turn-off your lights from 8:30-9:30 PM on March 28^th. I'll be doing so...I just signed-up online and tossed the date into the scheduler on my cell phone.