電池有什么問題?

電池有什么問題?

We are a country that loves our electronic gadgets, but when it comes to keeping them charged, it gets complicated.

我們是一個熱愛電子產品的國家，但要給它們充電就變得復雜了。

Batteries can be divided into two broad categories: dry-cell and wet-cell batteries. (Photo: John Seb Barber [CC by 2.0]/Flickr)

Whether it's a standard alkaline AA battery in your smoke detector, a rechargeable nickel-metal hydride in your cellphone or a wet-cell car battery, most of them contain toxic chemicals like cadmium, lead, zinc, manganese, nickel, silver, mercury and lithium.

無論是煙霧探測器中的標準堿性AA電池，手機中的可充電鎳氫電池，還是濕電池汽車電池，大多數都含有鎘、鉛、鋅、錳、鎳、銀、汞和鋰等有毒化學物質。

Though it seems like a relatively minor act, tossing a battery in your trash can lead to some seriously harmful effects on the environment.

雖然這看起來是一個相對較小的行為，但把電池扔進垃圾桶會對環(huán)境造成嚴重的危害。

If a battery winds up in an unlined landfill, it may leach its metals into the soil, contaminating groundwater supply. And if it burns up in an incinerator, that's just more toxic junk drifting up into the air we breathe.

如果電池最終被丟棄在沒有襯里的垃圾填埋場，它可能會將金屬滲入土壤，污染地下水供應。如果它在焚化爐里燃燒，那只是更多的有毒垃圾飄到我們呼吸的空氣中。

If that's not scary enough, consider that if they're not disposed of properly, they can short circuit, overheat and burst into flames. Depending on where you live, it may even be illegal to dispose of a battery.

如果這還不夠可怕的話，想想看，如果處理不當，它們可能會短路、過熱并起火。根據你的居住地不同，丟棄電池甚至可能是違法的。

Battery life

電池壽命

Check your state laws before tossing that battery in the trash. (Photo: Aaron Hall [CC by SA 2.0]/Flickr)

Over the years, batteries have been made out of some seriously toxic stuff. Thankfully, mercury is now out of the picture. Congress passed the Battery Act in 1996, which called for the phasing out of mercury in batteries, and with it, country-wide, cost-effective solutions to recycling and proper disposal.

多年來，電池是由一些嚴重有毒的物質制成的。值得慶幸的是，水星現在已經不存在了。國會在1996年通過了《電池法案》，該法案要求逐步淘汰電池中的汞，并在全國范圍內采用經濟有效的方法來回收和妥善處理汞。

When it comes to choosing the right battery, it all depends on how much you'll use it. The carbon footprint of manufacturing a single battery is huge. According to a study from MIT's Department of Materials Science and Engineering, 88% of a single-use battery's environmental output comes from its sourcing and processing.

說到選擇合適的電池，這完全取決于你會用多少。制造一個電池的碳足跡是巨大的。根據麻省理工學院材料科學與工程系的一項研究，88%的一次性電池的環(huán)境產出來自其采購和加工。

On top of that, the chemical compounds found in our batteries don't exactly grow on trees. They're full of manganese dioxide, graphite, zinc, and potassium hydroxide — all of which come from mining and refining.

最重要的是，我們的電池中發(fā)現的化合物并不長在樹上。它們富含二氧化錳、石墨、鋅和氫氧化鉀——所有這些都來自于采礦和精煉。

The hidden costs of batteries

電池的隱性成本

Men who work in this sulfur mine in Indonesia deal with brutal heat, toxic fumes and heavy loads in exchange for very little money. (Photo: Jean-Marie Hullot [CC by SA 2.0]/Wikimedia Commons)

A recent deep investigative dive into the hidden costs of Amazon's "store-brand" batteries revealed a host of problems behind a basic battery's life cycle. While big battery players like China, Japan and Korea are still in the game, Indonesia is an up-and-comer, thanks to its rich deposits of natural resources and lax environmental regulations.

最近對亞馬遜“商店品牌”電池隱藏成本的深入調查揭示了基本電池生命周期背后的一系列問題。雖然中國、日本和韓國等大型電池廠商仍在參與競爭，但印尼憑借豐富的自然資源和寬松的環(huán)境法規(guī)，已成為后起之先。

Think sustainably, and assess all of your options before tossing that next battery pack in your shopping cart. Though they may seem innocuous lying dormant in your TV remote, a lot lurks beneath the surface of your everyday battery.

在把下一個電池組扔進你的購物車之前，可持續(xù)地思考，評估你所有的選擇。雖然它們躺在你的電視遙控器里看似無害，但在你日常使用的電池表面下卻隱藏著很多。

Dr. David Santillo, a senior scientist at Greenpeace Research Laboratories, told The Guardian: "We have to get smarter at recovering and reusing the vast quantities that we have already extracted from the earth, rather than relying on continued pursuit of new reserves of ever poorer quality and at substantial environmental cost."

綠色和平組織資深科學家大衛(wèi)·桑提洛博士研究實驗室,告訴《衛(wèi)報》:“我們必須更聰明地恢復和再利用我們已經從地球中提取的龐大數量，而不是依靠不斷追求以巨大的環(huán)境成本為代價的新儲備。”