Report: Hydropower Untapped Domestic Energy — only 2,500 of 90,000 U.S. Dams Are Generating ElectricityPenny Starr 24 Mar 2022
Environmentalists long ago declared war on dams, claiming that they harm fish and contribute to so-called climate change. But according to a report on the oil price dot com website, dams also store water, prevent floods, and provide renewable energy that is even cheaper than solar.
The energy resource, however, is not generally in the spotlight, even as the country could face energy shortages because of President Joe Biden’s oil and gas policies and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
To date, hydropower — or the generation of electricity using water and turbines — is vastly underutilized, according to the report. Of the 90,000 dams identified by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, only 2,500 are being used to generate electricity.
The website reported on the role of hydropower in the U.S. energy landscape:
In the U.S., hydropower currently accounts for 37 percent of total U.S. renewable electricity generation and about 7 percent of total U.S. electricity generation; provides over 90 percent of America’s long-duration energy storage, and powers an estimated 30 million homes.
The golden era of dam building swept the nation in the 1940s and 1950s, impounding some of the most important rivers of the American west. But environmentalists have lately been winning a good deal, with the U.S. now leading the movement to decommission dams. According to “Free Rivers: The State of Dam Removal in the U.S.,” report by American Rivers, 57 dams were removed in 2021, reconnecting more than 2,131 miles of rivers. American Rivers has been advocating for dam removals on environmental grounds. A total of 1,951 dams have already been removed nationwide, roughly equal to 2 percent of the more than 90,000 dams.
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https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/03/24/report-hydropower-untapped-domestic-energy-only-2500-of-90000-u-s-dams-are-generating-electricity/
