That’s a huge amount of power. Hydro makes better sense in cold climates because methane emissions from rotting vegetation are less. Meanwhile, the US is going into the opposite direction, and wanted to exploit Canadian tar sands, an obscene project that now happily looks like it is dead.
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Three Gorges Dam (Wikipedia) Big hydropower dams are not only hugely destructive while being built, they have disastrous environmental consequences after completion. Scientific American details the Three Gorges Dam Disaster in China in a 2008 article citing problems like less rain and more droughts, increased chance of earthquakes and landslides, and potential for spreading [...] Guri Dam, Venezuela Guri, a ginormous hydro project in Venezuela, ended up producing far less power than anticipated. Bruce Krasting asked a friend at the World Bank what happened. BK: Where’s the juice at Guri? WB: Bad question to ask. The rainfall that historically fed the region has changed its pattern and annual flow. [...] If asked what type of renewable energy is most prevalent in California, most would choose solar or wind, but in reality, those two forms of renewable energy aren’t even close. Instead, the current California champion for renewable energy is geothermal, followed by small hydro. Say what? As an example, on Wednesday May 4, 2011, [...] Bonneville Power may have to shut down wind turbines because too much power is being produced by wind and hydro. If they let excess water flow over spillways this could raise nitrogen levels in the water, harming fish. So instead, they will turn off the wind turbines. If we had a grid that allowed large [...] Renewable Energy World has a long, detailed article and podcast on unconventional hydro power, focusing on wave and tidal power. Backpackers will love this easy way recharge a GPS. Daniel Hull, an Australian industrial designer based in Melbourne, has designed a portable hydro turbine with the aim of providing cheap renewable energy using water. The Bourne Energy BBP-2 weighs 25 lbs, fits in a backpack, is entirely self-contained, and outputs up to 600W of energy from river current with no heat or emissions. They can be daisy-chained in large arrays as can the BBP-1 (pictured) Tip: Inhabitat [...] While still a prototype, it’ll work it shallow water and a variety of flow speeds. Looks great for micro power. More from developer Hydro Electric Barrel Generator and Treehugger. Only 3% of US dams produce power. American Municipal Power in Ohio thinks that’s a waste and will retrofit five dams to produce 350 MW, a simple, great idea that in retrospect seems so obvious you wonder wht it wasn’t done before. |  | ||||
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