I just got a DIY kit quote for solar and it’s ~$18,000. That would mean a contractor installing is at least $25,000 if not more. That’s a big chunk of change upfront.
And no plans are in place for the disposal of panels, batteries, etc after their 25 year useful life…
Lithium batteries are highly recyclable… The current rate is something like 60% recovery, and that is bound to increase over time.
Everything I’ve seen gives it a range between 25% and 96% depending on several factors. It seems like we’re still getting this all figured out and it’s early but if we can get closer to that upper limit it will make a huge difference when considering the impact of these batteries.
The crazy thing is that 25 years after installing the system still works, its just not as efficent. Also you are just wrong about batteries, we already recycle lithium its just that once a battery pack is no longer useful for its application its better NOT to grind it down and sort out the materials, but first to reuse it in another application.
This is the area where we are still working on improving, current tech is looking at doing 2nd lifecycle applications for EV batteries in grid scale storage for example.