Why is hydroelectricity unfashionable?
spectrum.ieee.org
Why is hydroelectricity unfashionable?
1–10 of 397 posts
Re: Why is hydroelectricity unfashionable?
#2Because the amount of places where dams could be built to produce electricity is quite limited, and most of them are already in use.
So hydroelectric power is fine, but there is no way to significantly increase amount of it.
Edit: I was wrong, see https://web.archive.org/web/20170329132409/http://www.iea.or...
Re: Why is hydroelectricity unfashionable?
#3It's not very green at all. It's known to kill large swaths of the ecosystem.
The true green yet unfashionable energy source is nuclear fission.
Re: Why is hydroelectricity unfashionable?
#4The Banqiao Dam failure [0] came to my mind the moment I read the title. The amount of deaths that single failure caused may have something to do with that.
Re: Why is hydroelectricity unfashionable?
#5The Banqiao Dam failure [0] came to my mind the moment I read the title. The amount of deaths that single failure caused may have something to do with that. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975_Banqiao_Dam_failure
yeah, dam failures are pretty spectacular. Maybe we're collectively cooler with them because 1) they've been part of our accepted collateral damages list longer (hundreds of years) and 2) because we know better where the fall out will be we put more marginalized people there? I would be really interested in looking at property values or something like that for regions in suspected dam burst zones and neighborhoods that are just outside them.
on topic onion sketch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjfrJzdx7DA
Re: Why is hydroelectricity unfashionable?
#6This isn't hard to understand.
* Most of the best sites for hydro (and geothermal) in western countries already have damns.
* Between climate change and growing population, fresh water is becoming more and more scarce, making hydro a less dependable source of energy.
* These projects take a long time to plan and build.
Between these there is little opportunity for hydro to play a significant role in our short-term decarbonization plans, even ignoring ecological and safety concerns.
Re: Why is hydroelectricity unfashionable?
#7Off of the top of my head, a giant wall of concrete is not cheap nor "green", immense negative impact on the ecosystems ( waterways, estuary downstream, fish and most species that depend on a river to survive )
Villages and cultural patrimony that sometimes must go underwater.
Droughts and only small part of the Earth has rivers with enough water to make a dam that can generate power regularly.
Re: Why is hydroelectricity unfashionable?
#8The word "unfashionable" seems a bit ill-defined here. The article itself makes the argument that hydro is popular and many places either have adopted it or are adopting it, so obviously that's not what "unfashionable" means. It seems like the core complaint here is that some people have criticisms of excessive damming, and it has caused governments to weigh the potential impacts of hydro projects before going ahead — but surely that is a good thing. Overall, I just don't really get the issue this article is trying to call attention to.
Re: Why is hydroelectricity unfashionable?
#9"Green", if you exclude absolute sacrifice of an entire downstream ecosystem.
Re: Why is hydroelectricity unfashionable?
#10Vaclav Smil gets hyped up as one of the smartest men on the planet, but apparently he can't google up the downsides of Hydro?
Or is he 'just asking questions' to continue undermining solar PV and wind.
Yes, yes he is.