[captainslug]

Sealed-lead acid batteries are 99% recyclable.
NiMH is 90% recyclable.
Lithium variations batteries are entirely non-toxic and are 85% recyclable (and rising). Lithium is highly reactive, so it has to be recycled using cryogenic shredders.
The rest of the battery types are equally recyclable, but not many companies bother.

There's nothing particularly pollution-heavy about manufacturing or recycling batteries.

With modern coal power plants the ecological footprint is just as small as a hydroelectric plant. Coal is only a dirty power source if it is transported and processed lazily. Under current US standards well-maintained modern coal power plants produce a minuscule amount of localized pollution.

I've seen coal power plants in China and the bulk of the pollution is caused by the poorly handled transporting of the source coal. It's brought to the power plant in uncovered rail cars and trucks, so the loose soot is allowed to escape into the surrounding areas.


If you still doggedly refuse to believe that power plants are clean, then why is the smog in Los Angeles so bad, while there are no commonly known areas that have smog from power plants?

But, even if power plants produced an equivalent amount of pollution, that pollution could be moved away from densely populated areas where it isn't causing negative health effects.