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Why is hydroelectricity unfashionable?
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Re: Why is hydroelectricity unfashionable?
#12I spent a couple years on a motorbike traveling all through Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos (15k+ kms). Water mostly flows from the north (China) to the south in that region. The Mekong River.
China and Vietnam have dammed up nearly all of the large rivers in those three countries, for hydro. There are countless projects constantly being built as well. The scale is pretty epic really. Vietnam has some of the largest number of hydro dams in the world.
Downstream, there are huge swaths of empty riverbeds. In the wet season, when the rains overflow the dams, there are major floods and people who have built too close to the river edge, get swept away.
Hydro certainly is green, but the effect it has on everything downstream, isn't. Especially when it is poorly managed by countries that don't really have very much ecosense. They claim they are removing dams. I've seen it, they aren't... if anything they are just building more.
Re: Why is hydroelectricity unfashionable?
#13I think the problem is the focus on huge dam projects, for which there are very few available opportunities not already taken or which would cause a great deal of damage. Small dams, as the type promoted by Smil in the article, would indeed be beneficial, though I haven't seen a study on where such dams could be reliably placed and the projected outcomes.
Re: Why is hydroelectricity unfashionable?
#14Green?!? Dams in my home state are being removed to great applause and rejoicing. Restoring fisheries and natural habitats destroyed by reckless dam building in the last century is a growing priority.
Re: Why is hydroelectricity unfashionable?
#15Green has lost all meaning if we're going to include dams
Re: Why is hydroelectricity unfashionable?
#16Because "greens" are anti-progress, anti-humanity, and pro-hairshirting, so anything that allows humanity to thrive without suffering doesn't count. The restrictions, suffering, and decrease in prosperity are the point.
"Environmentalists make good movie villains because they want to make your real life worse" https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/01/03/environme...
"Environmentalists want to increase the costs of everyday goods and services by taxing carbon. They want you to fly less and to pay more, via offsets, when you do fly. They want you to stop eating meat. They want you to stop having kids. They want to deprive you of disabled-friendly plastic straws — and they’re coming for your delightful balloons next. They want to turn your corpse into food for plants because even the sweet release of death cannot save you from the environmentalist menace."
Re: Why is hydroelectricity unfashionable?
#17Hydro isn't unfashionable. We just don't have reasonable places to keep daming, so there's little really to talk about.
Nuclear is unfashionable, because there's huge growth potential among wealthy industrial countries, but because it's not "liked" there's very little actual growth.
Re: Why is hydroelectricity unfashionable?
#18Quoted post unavailable.
What's funny about this is that the "real world" includes physics - such as the IR reflectivity of CO2. While ROI is an entirely abstract concept (piled on top of other abstractions, like currency) created by humans.
Re: Why is hydroelectricity unfashionable?
#19I spent a couple years on a motorbike traveling all through Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos (15k+ kms). Water mostly flows from the north (China) to the south in that region. The Mekong River. China and Vietnam have dammed up nearly all of the large rivers in those three countries, for hydro. There are countless projects constantly being built as well. The scale is pretty epic really. Vietnam has some of the largest numbe…
Yeah, the biggest problems are political, when one country controls the upstream flow. (The same issue comes up between States in the U.S.) Luckily for Smil in Manitoba this isn't an issue.
Re: Why is hydroelectricity unfashionable?
#20Green?!? Dams in my home state are being removed to great applause and rejoicing. Restoring fisheries and natural habitats destroyed by reckless dam building in the last century is a growing priority.
The effects on local ecosystems are inconsequential when compared to the impact greenhouse gasses have on the world as a whole. It doesn't matter how high you set your thermostat when your house is on fire.