this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2023
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The largest dam removal project in United States history is underway along the California-Oregon border — a process that won't conclude until the end of next year with the help of heavy machinery and explosives.

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[–] LexiconDexicon 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Yeah there's really no need for so many dams anymore, they were built to power hydroelectric stations that are no longer needed so this is a good thing.

“Why not just let nature take its course? Well, nature didn’t take its course when dams got put in. We can’t pretend this gigantic change in the landscape has not happened and we can’t just ignore the fact that invasive species are a big problem in the west and in California,” said Dave Meurer, director of community affairs for Resource Environmental Solutions, the company leading the restoration project. “Our goal is to give nature a head start.”

Which is another really good point, sadly there's a lot of invasive plant species that were unknowingly brought over by Europeans mostly for ornamental purposes which have had a devastating effects on native plant life

[–] Aqarius 16 points 1 year ago (3 children)

How is hydro power no longer needed?

[–] MicroWave 15 points 1 year ago

I don't think @[email protected] said hydropower is no longer needed. They just said there's no need for so many dams anymore, and I think that's correct in this case.

A lot of these older and extremely underpowered dams were built in important riverways. They decimated salmon runs but produced only small amounts of power in return. For a recent example, Elwha Dam removal in Washington State comes to mind. It and another dam produced only 38% of the electricity needed to operate one sawmill, but it killed salmon habitats. You can read a little about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elwha_Dam

[–] BombOmOm 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

No clue why he would think that. Hydro power is the best source of carbon-free power. It's also the only reasonable way to do grid-scale storage we have. Unless we see a huge build-out in nuclear, hydro-power will be required for the next century.

[–] LexiconDexicon 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I have no clue either as you misread what I wrote. MicroWave is correct, that was my meaning.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's also the only reasonable way to do grid-scale storage we have.

That's not true. There's TONS of viable alternatives. ex:

[–] BombOmOm -2 points 1 year ago

https://youtu.be/_-cOgrBIAuc

Pumped storage hydro is exactly what I was talking about when I said hydro is the only reasonable way to do grid-scale storage we have.

https://balkangreenenergynews.com/iron-air-batteries-are-10-times-as-cheap-as-lithium-and-will-be-produced-from-2024/

Alternatives are being developed around the world, such as iron-air batteries

When your alternative is something that doesn't exist yet, you are reinforcing my point that hydro is the only viable grid-scale storage tech we have right now.

[–] deranger 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is a insane take. We absolutely need hydro power right now. It was the leading source of electricity before coal. More dams, please.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You can do hydropower without dams. Dams are incredibly destructive to ecosystems.

[–] deranger 4 points 1 year ago

Do educate me.

It just seems like a huge waste of energy / resources to remove an existing dam than to remediate it somehow. I didn’t see any mention of if this generated power or how it’d be offset.

Not really an environmental win if this hydro power capacity was replaced by coal.