This seem like the best possible source of renewable energy.
2007-04-04 06:37:50 · 6 answers · asked by Maddog 1 in Environment
You are correct, they are the best possible source of renewable energy. No CO2 emissions and the output is electricity that is the highest "quality" energy we consume.
Just about every river in America that can be dammed for hydro power, has been dammed for hydro power, about 1500 in all within the United States.
In America, it is the US Army Corps of Engineers that builds the large dams, and being quite diligent, they just kept building until they ran out of rivers.
About the only exception is the Grand Canyon, but only because people objected ... the plans were being made to dam that too.
There are some hydropower projects elsewhere in the world, and China has a number of dams under construction. But the US has just about run out of rivers to dam.
So the next best option now is nuclear.
For more information, see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroelectricity
2007-04-04 06:56:15 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Actually, Hoover dam was not built to provide electrical power, and it is still a side light to its main purpose, which is to provide water for agriculture. The generators were added later as a way to help pay off the debt incurred to build the dam.
2007-04-04 17:38:18 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Actually, dams mess up the environment by restricting downward water flow that fed the naturl life that existed prior to the dam.
Better power supply could come from geothermal transfer of heat, solar energy, new devices that burn trash in a plasma furnace, capturing the flow of the ocean, etc.
2007-04-04 13:45:59 · answer #3 · answered by mikeleibo 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You need a really big unrestricted water resource to make a dam ecofriendly and efficient. The US doesn't have any of these big water resource areas. Places like in Quebec and other bays do and they can generate electricity from these areas with good efficiency and minimal impact on the environment.
2007-04-04 13:49:26 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It was but the environmentalist were against it because they thought it could kill a small fish . It is one of the best sources of energy and help prevent floods .
2007-04-04 15:21:32 · answer #5 · answered by JOHNNIE B 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If we could get some more rivers, and we could build some more hydro dams.
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2007-04-04 13:51:20 · answer #6 · answered by tlbs101 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋