Toshiba has announced it’s next-generation rechargeable battery, the Super Charge Ion  Battery, or SCiB.

Intended for use in electric vehicles, the SCiB can chage to 90 minutes in a blazing fast 5 minutes! It can handle plenty of recharging as well, losing only about 10% of it’s capacity after 3,000 recharges.  NiMH batteries, by comparison, only last about 500-1000 charges¹.

Toshiba is positioning these batteries for use in electric vehicles, mentioning electric bikes, electric motorcycles, construction machinery, and fork lifts specifically. They do plan to reach electric cars eventually as well.

The extra capacity for these batteries is fantastic, but the fast recharge rate is really the key here. A big concern for electric vehicles is charging time, with a traditional gas-powered car you can simply fuel up in 5 minutes and you’re ready to go. With the SCiB charging in 5 minutes, a stop at an electric “gas” station would be almost the same experience as what we have today, of course, it would be a lot more environmentally friendly!

We should see the SCiB hitting the market next year.

via AutoBlogGreen

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Well since it’s rather difficult to get your hands on the Eneloop solar charger outside Japan, there’s an easy to get alternative that accomplishes the same thing.

While it’s not nearly as beautiful as the Eneloop charger, and it doesn’t have the brilliant USB connection, but it will still charge a battery using all green energy, and you can actually buy one.

This charger fits most types of batteries as well, it can charge D, C, AA, and AAA batteries. Both NiMH, and NiCad are supported. All these are charged with the on-board 7V solar cell.

It measures 19 x 8.7 x 4cm and weighs only 260 grams, definitely portable enough to carry around in your backpack to ensure your camera batter never dies.

I’m happy to say you can get this one easily online from amazon for about $25

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In the last post we talked about Sanyo’s Eneloop rechargeable batteries. These batteries come fully charged, do not lose charge over time, and can last over 19 years!

We should your batteries run out of juice, just pop ‘em into the charger and you’re ready to go.

…but why use traditional power when there’s an even greener way to recharge them?

Enter the Eneloop Solar Charger.

This charger uses the sun to produce power, and can charge an eneloop battery in as little as 2.5 hours, must faster than even a traditional wall-powered battery charger.

In addition to charging batteries, the eneloop solar charger provides the first solar powered USB port. Providing DC 5v, 500mA output, the solar charger can charge any device you would normally charge through USB.

The solar charger is available now, but extremely hard to find outside of Japan. If you do find it, expect to pay about $170.

via engadget

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Disposable batteries are one of the great modern wastes. You buy a couple AA’s, use you camera for a couple hours, and throw them out. Then all those chemicals end up in a landfill.

Well thankfully rechargeable batteries are available, and getting a couple packs of these not only saves a whole bunch of money in future battery costs, but reusing batteries is much better on the environment.

Before you go out and buy just any rechargeable batteries, you should take a look and Sanyo’s Eneloop batteries.

Eneloop batteries solve the biggest problem of rechargeable batteries: self discharge. Normal recrageables can not retain a charge indefinitely, and slowing lose charge even when not in use. This is why most must be charged before use.

Eneloop batteries are sold charged and ready to use right out of the box, as they do not fall victim to the problem of self-discharge. Eneloop batteries can hold on to a charge for more than a year, and can be re-charged up to 1000 times without losing performance. At one charge per week (much more than I normally charge my batteries, by the way) these batteries will last up to 19 years!

Just think of how many disposable batteries you’d have gone through in 19 years, that’s a lot of batteries kept out of landfills.

As an added benefit, eneloop batteries use PET packaging, which is fully recyclable.

Get more information about eneloop.

It seems eneloop batteries are currently only available in european stores, the eneloop site has a list of countries, however they’re easily available on amazon.

These batteries are pretty cheap as well, you can get an 8-pack on for $19.99 on amazon, or a 4-pack for $9.70.

You can also pick up an eneloop charger with 4 batteries for $19.36.

I highly suggest getting some rechargeable batteries, not just for the environment, but for you wallet as well! If a single rechargeable battery can last 19 years, you’re going to be saving a whole lot of money you’d otherwise be throwing out every time your digital camera dies.

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