Green Options » dam

Canada’s Clean Coal Concept

Lisa Wojnovich — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 23:57:42 +0000

Wednesday, Canadian Environment Minister Jim Prentice announced his government’s most recent plan for eliminating CO₂ emissions. The Canadian government hopes to phase out electrical generation by modern coal technology in favor of carbon capture and storage (CCS) — the much debated and as yet unproven “clean coal” concept — nuclear power, and other, renewable sources of energy.

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Battlelines Over Waterlines: South Asia’s Not So New Tensions

Anshu Nagpal — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:07:33 +0000

South Asia’s rural areas search for water intensifies due to annual droughts.

According to a UNESCO study, fresh water supply is expected to drop by one-third within 20 years. UNESCO points out that up to 7 billion people could face water shortages by 2020 as global warming will affect water supply in more than 60 countries.

Water as a priority in national strategic discourse is not new but its prominence in recent years illustrates the emergence of a new battlefront. A broader acceptance of climate change associated with global warming has led to the reassessment of fresh water’s priority.

Water Supply Is A Growing Problem in South Asia

In South Asia, this future is here. Ground water drop in several major metropolises in India is up to nine meters; this is especially pronounced in densely populated areas where people bore wells in their yards rather than rely on government supplied water which is in severe shortage. With that in mind, one of the fastest growing regions in the world, South Asia, is involved in cross-border water dispute.

Regional Tensions Over Water

Last year UN appointed a specialist to look at a complaint filed by Pakistan against India for violating the Indus Water Treaty signed in 1960. India recently initiated a construction of dam on Chenab River in Kashmir, which has the potential of reducing the flow to Pakistan’s primary agricultural areas. Although the specialist found that the Indian design was permitted under the treaty, he suggested some minor changes.

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First Commercial Hydrokinetic Turbine Installed in US

Ariel Schwartz — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 23:20:11 +0000

The United States’ first hydrokinetic turbine was recently installed in the Mississippi River. The turbine, which harnesses power from moving water, is downstream from a hydroelectric-plant dam.

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Toxic Ash Leak from Tennessee Coal-Fired Power Plant

Becky Striepe — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 22:41:06 +0000

A breach in an earthen dike caused toxic ash from the Kingston coal-fired power plant to devastate over 400 acres in Tennessee. The Tennessee Valley Authority estimates that 3.1 million cubic yards of ash and water leaked from the holding pond. The sludge contaminated the surrounding area and is now moving down the Emory River.

[Creative Commons photo by Daniel Johnson]

Coal plants collect the “fly ash,” a byproduct of burning coal for fuel, in order to bury or recycle it later. The scrubbers collecting the ash are in place to reduce emissions so that plants can produce “clean coal.” Disasters like this certainly call into question how clean that process really is.

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Drought in Aussie Food Bowl Continues to Worsen

Joshua S Hill — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:13:58 +0000

The Murray-Darling Basin exists as Australia’s largest agricultural area, and drains a total of one-seventh of the Australian land mass. The Basin harbors two of Australia’s largest and most important rivers, the Murray River and the Darling River. And the Murray-Darling is also Australia’s foodbowl, providing food for Australia, as well as exports to Asia and the Middle East.

But with water inflows over the past two years at an all-time low, the Murray-Darling Basin is dying.

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10 Top Environmental Headlines of the Week

Gavin Hudson — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 19:49:25 +0000

In case you missed them the first time around, here are the top 10 international environmental headlines that made news in the blogosphere for the week of March 31 - April 6.

1. Asia — United Nations Climate Change Talks: “Kyoto II” climate talks open in Bangkok

“The first formal talks in the long process of drawing up a replacement for the Kyoto climate change pact opened in Thailand on Monday with appeals to a common human purpose to defeat global warming.

‘The world is waiting for a solution that is long-term and economically viable,’ U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said in a video address to the 1,000 delegates from 190 nations gathered in Bangkok.

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Renewable Energy: When The World Is Not Enough

Mark Seall — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 08:30:33 +0000

You may recall the opening scene in the James Bond Film, Goldeneye, where our hero sprints along the top of a dizzyingly high dam, bungee jumps to the bottom, and subsequently wreaks havoc on the top secret scientific installation within.

Some readers may be aware that the dam forming the backdrop to this daredevil scene, instead of being deep inside the former Soviet Union, is in fact located in the Val Verzasca in Southern Switzerland. Retaining over 100 million cubic meters of water, and generating 105 megawatts of electricity, the Verzasca dam is one of 527 hydro electric power plants which together provide more than 57% of the electricity consumed within Switzerland.

In the interest of bringing EcoWorldly readers first hand and up-close reporting on renewable energy I had originally planned to visit the dam this weekend in order to relate my experiences of bungee jumping off a 720 foot high hydro-electric energy installation. However, in the interests of meeting editorial deadlines I ultimately had to settle with a video from YouTube. It’s worth watching just to appreciate the sheer scale of this installation.

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