When I first saw this I thought it was from The Onion. But this for real.
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/532896/discarded-laptop-batteries-keep-the-lights-on/
Discarded Laptop Batteries Keep the Lights On
Millions of batteries discarded with computers have more than enough life to power home lighting for one year, researchers in India say.
Many of the estimated 50 million lithium-ion laptop batteries discarded every year could provide electricity storage sufficient to light homes in poor countries, researchers at IBM say.
In work being aired this week at a conference in San Jose, researchers at IBM Research India in Bangalore found that at least 70 percent of all discarded batteries have enough life left to power an LED light at least four hours a day for a year.
While it’s possible to combine LED lights with solar panels and rechargeable batteries (see “Innovators Under 35: Evans Wadongo”), using discarded batteries could make the approach far cheaper.
“The most costly component in these systems is often the battery,” says Vikas Chandan, a research scientist at the lab’s Smarter Energy Group, who led the project. “In this case, the most expensive part of your storage solution is coming from trash.”
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Go there and read more. More next week.
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