The cost of rechargeable battery power

Typical rechargeable batteries can be recharged about 200 times during their lifetime. Assuming the costs of rechargeable batteries use on average about 4 times more expensive than those primary batteries, one can reduce the cost of battery power by a factor of 50 by switching from primary to rechargeable batteries. Life-Cycle Assessment suggests that additional environmental/societal costs should be considered for rechargeable batteries. Comparing the primary and rechargeable batteries on a one-to-one basis, the environmental/societal costs for the rechargeable battery are higher (by roughly 50%) than those for the primary battery, primarily because of the electricity needed to change the rechargeable battery. More than half of the electricity in the United States is generated by burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas). Emissions from the combustion include NOx, CO2, SO2 and other toxic trace metals, which are harmful to the environmental and human health. Although it is difficult to estimate the exact value of these environmental/societal costs associated with battery charging by household electricity, the application of renewable energy sources for battery changing world definitely reduce the energy cost based on Life-Cycle Assessment techniques.


Environmental/societal Costs of Energy
The Cost of Primary Battery Power
Life Cycle Assessment
The Cost of Rechargeable Battery Power



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