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+---- Thread: Hydroelectric power's dirty secret revealed (/thread-215441.html)
- ccs178 - 02-24-2005 11:01 AM
Contrary to popular belief, hydroelectric power can seriously damage the climate. Proposed changes to the way countries' climate budgets are calculated aim to take greenhouse gas emissions from hydropower reservoirs into account, but some experts worry that they will not go far enough.
In a study to be published in Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Fearnside estimates that in 1990 the greenhouse effect of emissions from the Curuá-Una dam in Pará, Brazil, was more than three-and-a-half times what would have been produced by generating the same amount of electricity from oil.
<a href='http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7046' target='_blank'>http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7046</a>
- DrTorch - 02-24-2005 11:16 AM
Quote:In effect man-made reservoirs convert carbon dioxide in the atmosphere into methane. This is significant because methane's effect on global warming is 21 times stronger than carbon dioxide's.
It's unclear if this methane could be captured and used. If so, then you get bonus energy.
Good article, but a bit misleading and sensational for New Scientist.