I've been considering electric cars, solar homes, etc. and exactly how 'green' they are. Take the major example of the automobile industry. If the world eschewed gas powered cars in favor of electric ones, what are the trade-offs? We see that the energy to power the car is essentially offloaded from the local engine to the power plant, which is obviously more efficient of a process. However, the issue of a fairly different and much less recycleable type of vehicle arises. The batteries themselves are the largest contention.
My question is how much waste do electric motors+batteries create over gas powered motors? It's a matter of exchanging exhaust emissions for solid waste product (dead batteries, more junk car parts). But just how many batteries would we need to give everybody an electric car, and how much waste would that create?