Honestly, if you don't want to keep sending alkalines to the landfills, start buying the newer hybrid NiMH batteries instead, like Sanyo's Eneloop brand. They'll hold some portion of their charge for over a year, so once the remote stops working properly all you have to do is drop them in the charger overnight. Alternately, simply realize that unless you're one of those idiots who spends more time channel-surfing than actually watching something, alkalines should last you a few years if they're fresh. Alternately-alternately, if you use alkalines in other devices, simply realize that a remote control uses a fraction of the amount of power that, say, a camera uses, so once your batteries stop working in a different device, put them in the "for use with remotes" pile, and swap them out as necessary (you were already going to throw those batteries out anyways, and now you don't have to pay to recharge batteries just for your remote).

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From what I've read, Greenpeak hasn't done much more than lower power requirements slightly, and stick some non-replaceable lithium batteries in the unit, which depending upon usage, could either be fantastic, or extremely annoying. I'd prefer to see manufacturers utilize a system where rechargeables in the remote could be charged by docking the remote to the television or stereo receiver, amplifier, etc.

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"Green Peak is hoping its technology gets combined with a new RF remote control standard called RF4CE being developed by Panasonic, Philips, Samsung and Sony. We could see a lot more RF remote controls being included with HDTVs and Blu-ray players in the fall. But Green Peak's name won't be on any of them, despite what you see in the picture. They're selling their technology to folks who make the remote controls."

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