Energy Seed LED Lamp Concept Could Give New Meaning to Battery Recycling
- Oct 13, 2008 11:26 PM EST
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So your alkaline batteries can't power any of your gadgets anymore. In fact, they're so drained they can't even be used for the remote control. With the Energy Seed concept designed by South Korean Sung Woo Park, these old batteries are given a whole new purpose. Instead of being sent for recycling (or more realistically, being thrown away), they could be used to power LED street lamps.
Most old batteries have around 0.8 to 1.3 volts left. The LED lights to be used for the lamps will need approximately 2 volts of power to run, so they can be powered using a few old alkalines. Based on the design, you just slip a battery into a slot and let it do its job. Why leave old batteries to leak in dump sites when they can still be used for something else, right? In fact, the concept could even inspire people to actively recycle batteries instead of just throwing them away. It's a good idea to address the fact that we're already using a lot of disposable batteries. For a more long-term approach to the problem though, there's always the option of using rechargeable batteries.