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Medford man uses leftover energy By Mark Freeman Chuck Watson pondered what to do with the cache of unwanted energy he had collected at his Medford battery business in the form of discarded batteries. Then a light went on in his head, and eventually one in his workshop and storage room as well. He put a new twist to the energy saving game by creating a system that captures leftover energy from the old batteries to operate equipment in his Batteries Plus store on Crater Lake Highway near Costco in Medford. And watt the heck, it works like a charm. Some lights, small appliances, a few power tools and even a small heater at the store are all powered daily by electricity mined from the batteries their former owners found too weak to power their cars, wheelchairs, computers or other electric contraptions. The fact that Watson saves somewhere around 50 cents a day with his contraptions is less important than being a part of the solution to this winter�s power problems in the West. "So far, it�s kind of piddly, but I think the idea�s not," Watson says. "We�ll expand it until we can use all the wasted energy we get from these batteries." Stores like his that sell new batteries also become a receptacle for old ones, which often still hold energy even though they are not powerful enough for vehicles or appliances. Typically, the batteries are discharged, letting the excess energy escape, so they can be disposed of safely. Like all great inventors, Watson figured there had to be a better way. "You got to get rid of the energy somehow," Watson says, "so why not do it in a useful fashion?" So Watson began to hook the dying batteries to an inverter, which converts the electricity to the 110-volt levels acceptable for regular household machinery. The inverters also have switches in them, so they revert to regular alternating current when the battery is sucked dry. A basic used car battery, though too weak to start an engine, often contains as much as a half a kilowatt-hour of power. That�s enough to power Watson�s bench lamp, soldering iron, electric screwdriver and a little lighted watch battery-changing table all day. "If we�re not using the glue gun," Watson says, "it gives us a little more time." A similar system runs a light and heater in the building�s back room. Eventually, Watson hopes to have his storeroom�s overhead lights all running on the unwanted batteries as well. Watson�s effort to turn the negatives of old batteries into positive power has its limits, he says. The systems won�t replace conventional electricity, and it�s also possible he has accrued more cost than benefits. "Did we end up using more energy to build the system than what we will extract?" Watson says. "That�s one of those things I don�t know." But one thing Watson does know � if he wasn�t doing something like this at his business, chances are this self-professed tinkerer would do something similar in his garage. Besides, why should he throw away perfectly good electricity? "With this power crunch on, this is a tricky little thing," he says. "Energy�s not going to waste." Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.