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Comment by tjoff | Hacker News Reader

That's great, but can energy that has been stored in a battery still be called green?

edit: apparently that was a stupid question...

Lead Acid batteries are extremely recyclable. Li-Ion batteries aren't setup for it yet but that'll come, however in the future many grid batteries are second-life (e.g. former automotive batteries that don't hold their full capacity) so they're recycled without energy input (except transportation.

The problem with your question wasn't stupidity. It was the disingenuous and trollish way that you presented the question.

Socratic learning is definitely a thing, but it's mostly philosophical. In this case, you are asking a question that is presented in a way that suggests that using batteries defeats the goal of creating renewable energy. However, you did not present any studies, news, or any other information, to bolster this idea.

This logically fallacious tool is used a lot nowadays. If you believe that batteries are not green, prove it. Otherwise, why pose a researchable question in the first place?

Yeah, on the internet it's really hard to tell if a question is disingenuous.

I figured it was interpreted that way. But it was a genuine question and I thought the question had merit on its own.

I wouldn't think many would come to defend batteries, that they are awful for the environment isn't a controversial idea. They do however enable things like electric cars and such, which arguably make them worthwhile.

And there are also other applications for batteries, such as even out supply and demand in the grid. But that doesn't really require them to be that environmentally friendly themselves to make sense for the environment - since they might enable more solar power etc.

But as energy storage for the sake of just storing it? It might be worthwhile for a household (perhaps mainly because selling the surplus electricity often isn't a good deal). And the economics might even be worthwhile on larger scale as well. But is it really environmentally friendly?

This comment is more in line with what I'd expect, and in response I would imagine that well-managed battery systems probably are pretty low in carbon and other pollution outputs as long as they can be recycled, or based on the amount of life that they can have in them.

Regardless, I can't imagine that a renewable energy + battery system is capable of doing anywhere near the environmental damage of most carbon-based systems.

Much better than fossil fuels, even if reuse and recycling are ignored.

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