[North-NV-Greens] just when you thought...

[Paul Etxeberri]

DAM
Hydropower a major greenhouse-gas producer, researchers say

Although hydroelectric power is often heralded as a green alternative 
to fossil fuels like coal, scientists now say that in terms of 
greenhouse-gas production, hydro projects may be just as damning. 
Ahem.  New research reveals that the initial flooding involved in 
creating hydroelectric dams releases large amounts of carbon from 
plants that are killed in the process.  Then, leftover plant matter 
and other plants killed when water levels rise decompose and release 
methane into the atmosphere.  These greenhouse-gas emissions add up 
-- in the case of one Brazilian dam project studied, emissions 
released over a year were more than triple what would have been 
produced by burning oil.  The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate 
Change is considering counting some hydro-related emissions toward 
countries' allotments, but its proposed new guidelines would not 
count methane in this group, so some scientists say the proposals 
don't go far enough.

straight to the source:  New Scientist, Duncan Graham-Rowe, 26 Feb 2005
<http://grist.org/cgi-bin/forward.pl?forward_id=4412>


-- 
Paul Etxeberri

"Forests precede civilizations and deserts follow"   ---Chateaubriand