The Price of Damming our Rivers | Hydropower Impact

Hydropower – using water stored in dams to generate electricity – is often touted as a clean, green energy source. But the environmental costs of constructing even a single dam can be enormous, with huge impacts felt across entire river ecosystems. ↠Subscribe: shorturl.at/wBNSW

This video, in collaboration with Matt Ferrell, takes a closer look at some of the far-reaching consequences of hydroelectric dams and asks what can be done to develop this technology for a better balance between energy and conservation.

Check out Undecided with Matt Ferrell, for more detail on the latest developments in hydropower technology: 👉🏽 youtu.be/3nBkx3V9E48
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🔗 Sources:
[1] “Dams and protected areas: Quantifying the spatial and temporal extent of global dam construction within protected areas”, Michele L. Thieme et. al; A Journal of the Society of the Conservation Society (2020)

[2] “How to balance hydropower, rivers & people | Jessie Moravek | TEDxFulbrightGlasgow”, YouTube (2019)

[3] “Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Reservoir Water Surfaces: A New Global Synthesis”, Bridget R. Deemer et al. BioScience, Volume 66, Issue 11, Pages 949–964. (2016)

[4] “Deploy diverse renewables to save tropical rivers”, Nature (2019)

Additional Sources:
“Mapping the world’s free-flowing rivers”, G. Grill et. all; Nature volume 569, pages215–221 (2019)
“Empirical trends and characteristics of existing and removed dams in the United States”, Zbigniew Grabowski; River Research and Applications (2018)
“Climate Impacts of Hydropower: Enormous Differences among Facilities and over Time”, Ilissa B. Ocko et. al; Environmental and Science Technology (2018)

“Hopes for a Fish Revival as a Dam Is Demolished”, New York Times
“Reducing greenhouse gas emissions of Amazon hydropower with strategic dam planning”, Nature (2019)

Phys.org: “Study finds big savings in removing dams over repairs” (2019)
The River Collective: “Clogging the Earth´s arteries: River damming changes biogeochemical cycles”
U.S. Environmental Community and Hydropower Industry Issue Joint Statement of Collaboration: “U.S. Hydropower Climate Solution & Conservation Challenge”, (2020)