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Because the amount of places where dams could be built to produce electricity is quite limited, and most of them are already in use. So hydroelectric power is f

Because the amount of places where dams could be built to produce electricity is quite limited, and most of them are already in use. So hydroelectric power is fine, but there is no way to significantly increase amount of it. Edit: I was wrong, see https://web.archive.org/web/20170329132409/http://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/hydropower_essentials.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20170329132409/http://www.iea.or...

insane_dreamer 4y ago
Is this indeed the case, even for smaller, localized dams? Would be interesting to see a comprehensive study on this (if one has been done).
- dottedmag 4y ago
  Looks like I was wrong! This report puts current usage to 20%: https://web.archive.org/web/20170329132409/http://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/hydropower_essentials.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20170329132409/http://www.iea.or...
  - insane_dreamer 4y ago
    Nice find! Most interesting is to see potential in Africa and Asia/Pacific, where there is the greatest need for clean energy as consumption grows as a result of both population growth and industrialization.
    - dottedmag 4y ago
      Not so rosy for Asia: northern Asian Russian rivers that comprise a sizable chunk of the potential are very far from any inhabited places. I don't know where Chinese rivers with untapped potential are located, but I'd guess they are in Tibet.
  - jandrese 4y ago
    That report is interesting, but incomplete. Certainly there are diminishing returns on developing that last 80%. It's entirely possible that many of the locations are outright uneconomical to develop, possibly because they are hundreds of miles from the nearest significant civilization and would require enormous high voltage lines before they could be developed. Or maybe upstream of the location is a lot of people who would need to move first.

insane_dreamer 4y ago

Is this indeed the case, even for smaller, localized dams? Would be interesting to see a comprehensive study on this (if one has been done).

dottedmag 4y ago
Looks like I was wrong! This report puts current usage to 20%: https://web.archive.org/web/20170329132409/http://www.iea.org/publications/freepublications/publication/hydropower_essentials.pdf https://web.archive.org/web/20170329132409/http://www.iea.or...
- insane_dreamer 4y ago
  Nice find! Most interesting is to see potential in Africa and Asia/Pacific, where there is the greatest need for clean energy as consumption grows as a result of both population growth and industrialization.
  - dottedmag 4y ago
    Not so rosy for Asia: northern Asian Russian rivers that comprise a sizable chunk of the potential are very far from any inhabited places. I don't know where Chinese rivers with untapped potential are located, but I'd guess they are in Tibet.
- jandrese 4y ago
  That report is interesting, but incomplete. Certainly there are diminishing returns on developing that last 80%. It's entirely possible that many of the locations are outright uneconomical to develop, possibly because they are hundreds of miles from the nearest significant civilization and would require enormous high voltage lines before they could be developed. Or maybe upstream of the location is a lot of people who would need to move first.