Renewable energy: Report claims large hydropower projects damaging to the environment
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The report’s author said: ‘Large hydropower doesn’t have a future, that is our blunt conclusion.’
By Albert Evans
A new study has concluded large-scale hydropower projects in European and North America have been disastrous for the environment and that similar projects in the developing world should not be built.
Hydropower makes up nearly 71 percent of the world’s renewable energy and has long been viewed as one of the most dependable forms of green electricity. But in Europe and North America, many dams are being removed either for safety or environmental reasons.
The scientists’ report sets out a litany of problems with many of the dams built in the last century, many of which were critical to the economic development of their respective countries.
The vast majority were more expensive than they planned, destroyed the local environment and contributed to climate change by releasing greenhouse gases from the land they flood.
One of the report’s authors Professor Emilio Moran fr...
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