Quote:
Originally Posted by 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.
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captainslug,with respect to coal,I believe the contemporary theme is that without effective CO2 sequestration( of which the efficacy of such has not yet been demonstrated),the atmosphere simply cannot support the additional carbon load projected from coal oxidation.-------------- Global climate change is a fact.Man-made CO2 had been quantitatively associated with it,and the scientific community is convinced that without locking up CO2,we'd be putting a gun to our head if we continue to use coal as we do.--------------- The gentleman who was hired by the Republican Party to write the position paper casting doubt about the accuracy of science of anthropogenic CO2 emissions,and their link to climate change,has apologized for his propaganda-for hire,and now admits that global climate change is real and its affected by man made CO2,however remains proud of how powerful his propaganda was,and how effectively it delayed any action.None of this is good news for coal-producing states.-------------------- Power plants operate cleaner than ever,however its the CO2,not particulates,soot,or smoke thats at issue.------------------ With respect to Los Angeles,their pollution is photochemical,cooked from Nitrogen Oxidfes from their cars,and trapped in the L.A.Basin,and held there by inversion layers which hold the gases close to the ground.It has nothing to do with power plants.