Batteries Store Energy, But How Much of a Hazard Are They?
How ironic is this? Our energy consumption is so inter-related that we don’t even realize the impact; even when we think we are making the right choices. The following Press Release talks about prices increases to battery products as a result of the energy demands that affect the prices of the plactic cases that the batteries are made of. Even alternative energy places a demand on the convential oil & gas based by-products. In addition, North America has done a great deal of work in eliminating the effects of Lead in our lives, but yet we are using more lead than ever in producing batteries to store a charge from Solar and Wind-Power sources.
Are there alternatives to lead for storing energy? Or should we be focusing on energy on demand? What do you think?
———————————————————————————–
BLUE BELL, Pa., Jan. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — C&D Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: CHP), a leading North American producer and marketer of electrical power storage and conversion systems used in telecommunications, industrial and motive applications, today announced a general price increase of 8% on all 10- and 20-year battery products, including hardware, components and parts, as well as all motive battery products, effective with orders placed starting March 1, 2006.
“Since our November 28, 2005 general pricing announcement, the market price for lead, which is a dominant raw material used for the manufacture of industrial battery products, has risen roughly 30%, from approximately $0.45/lb to $0.60/lb according to the industry benchmark London Metals Exchange (LME),” said Dr. Jeffrey Graves, President and Chief Executive Officer. “This base price escalation has been compounded by higher ‘lead premiums’ that are typically added by suppliers to the base LME price as a function of market conditions. This rapid escalation in total lead costs has occurred simultaneously with copper and polymer resin price increases of over 8% over this same period and a similarly dramatic rise in the price of natural gas used in battery manufacturing operations. While we are continuing to focus aggressively on productivity improvements and cost reduction efforts as a part of our Six Sigma initiative, increases of this magnitude that occur in essential commodity costs must be addressed in part through increased pricing to our customers. We continue to work with our suppliers to drive economies in the supply chain and are hopeful that this difficult cost environment is of limited duration.”