Why the World Needs Batteroo: The Troops
Why the World Needs Batteroo: The Troops
Hello my Dear Friends!
Today we are going to start a new series of blog posts titled Why the World Needs Batteroo. We will be looking at different situations in which batteries are being used excessively or wastefully and see how having Batteroos could improve the situation. This blog post is going to look at the troops of the United States Army.
United States troops go through a lot of batteries. They need it for the gear they take on their missions: radios, night-vision goggles, GPSs, cameras, and other assorted tech are all necessary equipment and troops are expected to keep their gear powered at all times. As such they are expected to carry extra batteries, an amount needed for the multiple days or longer a solider might be out on a mission. National Defense Magazine reports the average solider will end up carrying a minimum of 20 pounds of batteries, some going up to around 35 pounds for specialized equipment. They also report that an infantry battalion goes through an estimated $150,000 worth of batteries in one year! [1] And that’s just batteries! With all their defensive gear, weapons, and supplies, a soldier’s load ends up being somewhere between 87 to 127 pounds! With that much weight on his back, an infantryman is “not very tactical or maneuverable,” said Lt. Col. Rick “Silky” Schilke, deputy director of the Marine Corps’ Expeditionary Energy Office. [2]
There has been a large movement to try and reduce the weight of soldiers’ loads. Since the increase of more protective equipment and better technology, we have seen a massive amount of troops being injured due to the amount of strain caused by the weight they need to carry. The Seattle Times reports that nearly one third of all medical evacuations from 2004 to 2007 were all from musculoskeletal, connective-tissue, or spinal injuries. This is more than double the evacuations for combat injuries! The rising number of veterans from the Afghanistan and Iraq war filing for disabilities relating to these sorts of injuries leads benefits paid by the Department of Veteran Affairs to exceed $500 million dollars annually! [2] The Army is looking for multiple solutions to try and reduce their soldier’s carrying weight, and reducing the amount of batteries they would have to carry is definitely a start! While rechargeable batteries are a potential solution for this issue, The Seattle Times reports soldiers don’t like them that much. They want fresh batteries before they go on a mission, and they don’t want to bring them back. Another reason for their dislike is that each electronic gadget requires specific chargers and batteries from different manufacturers. Current rechargeable batteries have half to two thirds of the energy density of disposable batteries. Lithium Ions, while are getting better, in most cases can’t handle extreme temperatures; they are usually only good between -20 oC to 60 oC. [2]
So it seems like the Army is going to be using disposable batteries for a while. So why not make sure we extract all the juice out of them before they are discarded? Batteroo’s technology can help extend the life of battery operated devices, and perhaps in a small way help shoulder the troops’burden However, should the Army decide to go the route of rechargeable batteries, we might be able to help them still sometime very soon…
Thank you guys for tuning in! Check back next week for more Batteroo content!
Your Friends at Batteroo
References
[1] Anon, Army, Marines Face Uphill Battle to Lighten Troops' Battery Load. National Defense Magazine. Available at: http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/archive/2011/May/Pages/ArmyMarinesFaceUphillBattleToLightenTroops%E2%80%99BatteryLoad.aspx
[2] Bernton, H., 2011. Weight of War: Gear that protects troops also injures them. The Seattle Times. Available at: http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/weight-of-war-gear-that-protects-troops-also-injures-them/