I am particularly interested in "AA" and "AAA". Such a document will
answer the following questions.

1. Is battery life (an individual use cycle)comparable between
alkaline and rechargeable? (It's my experience that rechargeables do
not last as long when used in the same device.)

2. Is there a particular type of rechargeable that has a longer use
cycle. (ie provides the same amount of power over a longer period of
time.)

Hello Wurzelma,

The answer to part 1 is straight forward as explained at:
  http://www.epa.gov/etv/pdfs/vrvs/06_vr_rayovac.pdf
which describes (in part) the ratio of Rayovac Renewal brand batteries
when compared to Rayovac Alkaline batteries. Your experience for a
single cycle is basically confirmed by this report. The benefits for
rechargeable batteries is reduced overall cost, less waste, and so on.
There are a number of other reports / work products at EPA's site - go
to
  http://www.epa.gov/
and use Rayovac in their search system or search on google using
  rayovac site:epa.gov

To part 2 of your question, it is feasible to get more power (or
perhaps more "use") by changing technology. For example, a NiMH
battery works more effectively in high current devices (e.g., cameras)
- see
  http://www.greenbatteries.com/documents/battery_myths.htm
for a list of "battery myths" for example. Note also the self
discharge comments about NiMH which work best when recently recharged.
  http://www.crypto.com/chargers/
is an extensive report on relative performance of batteries, chargers,
and usage patterns.
  http://www.intellicharge.ca/Downloads/by_section/03.pdf
part of a much larger report comparing Alkaline, NiMH, and NiCd
batteries, usage, and charging.
  http://www.ussc.com/~turner/nicds.html
more anecdotal information, but a good set of links at the end to
battery suppliers. On a related page he goes into great detail about
LiON batteries which have good power output (e.g, used in Cell phones)
but are not made as AA / AAA.

Search phrases used to find the answer included:
  rayovac renewal battery performance
  renewal alkaline batteries
  nimh alkaline battery ratio performance

Please use a clarification request if you need further detail on this
question or if the answer does not fully meet your needs.

 --Maniac

Thanks very much.

You may find this interesting

http://www.bagelhole.org/article.php/Energy/243/

The main thing that determines the life of rechargables is to
COMPLETELY use of their "juice" before recharging. If you don't do
this, then they aren't all that cost effective.

Kriswrite

In 60 years, perhaps 10,000 bateries of about AA and AAA size, only
rarely have the rechargable been more cost effective in the way I
wanted to use them. Let me hasten to add that we rarely have a choice,
for a variety of reasons. The sizes are rarely interchangable and the
rechargables are often hard wired into the circuit. The retail price
of the Energizer and Duracell batteries has risen sharply in the past
year or two, and other brands I have tried seem to be inferior,
especailly Rayovac have perhaps 1/2 the capacity and poor shelf life.
While recharging is not recomended, I have found it marginally
successful, typically increasing the short circuit current by ten and
restoring the voltage to about 80% of the new terminal voltage.
Admittedly this is not good enough for some applications, such as high
load current where the rechargables are typically superior.
 The special chargers for premium high tech batteries can rarely be
used for a different application except by modifing and some risk of
battery explosion and short life for the battery. The high tech
chargers typically will not recharge a marginal battery, because they
think it is already charged. Replacements for both the high tech
chargers and batteries are typically so costly that cost effective is
very improbable.
 Occasionally I have has a charging cell pop and spray some caustic
potassium lye a few inches, so modest precautons are advised.
 I disagree with kriswrite. Cells are best discharged to about 70% of
rated voltage (not completely) before recharging. 90% is safer when
several cells are in series, as the cells are not pefectly matched, so
one is likely to reverse polarity, while the others are still close to
100% voltage. You should definately not continue to disharge a
multicell battery when the device is working lots poorer than at full
charge.  Neil