Inside Climate News. (2023, September 1). Green Groups Are Divided Over a Proposal to Boost the Nation’s Hydropower. Here’s Why. Retrieved January 28th, from
The industry for hydropower is looking to again become a primary producer of clean energy and to be able to increase the use of this hydroelectricity. Hydropower was once looked at to be a large part of the future for clean energy but was outperformed by its rivals such as wind and solar energy. Now, they are trying to argue that this hydropower can and will be very beneficial and provide the needed power that can be effectively used by many. A new bill has been introduced that would be able to accelerate the licensing process for these projects. This bill so far has gained lots of early support by many groups and it seems that it is going very well in the right direction, though it still has some pushback against it. It seems a growing study shows that dams can have significant carbon emissions. It seems that a lot of the pushback is coming from these emissions that will also contribute to climate change. Even though these bills are trying to be passed so this process of building these dams can be sped up, it seems it’s very possible that they could potentially be speeding up climate change. It has many groups thinking about this bill and having their opinions spread in many different ways.
This article explains how while many people are for this type of energy and want increased dams that will allow for hydroelectric power, a lot of people are also against it. This is related to environmental science because we have talked about how this can very possibly be a big part of clean energy in the future but it seems that a lot of people actually don’t want it, and that’s also because it gives out carbon emissions on a large enough scale that it will not be as beneficial as previously thought. It seems that a lot of these so-called solutions actually have potential downsides that really do put in question their ability to be a working, efficient, and sustainable source of energy for the future.
While I believe that the push for hydroelectricity is the correct thing to do dams can cause a lot of harm to the environment and actually cause damage. While this dam may be able to help currently in the long-term it may actually cause a lot of damage. Is the location the dam is thought about being placed in worth it?
I agree with the author that while hydroelectric dams may have some positives, they still cost a lot to build and that production emits a lot of greenhouse gases. I think that building more hydroelectric dams is not the way towards advancing renewable energy. What do you think is the best way to produce renewable energy?