Comment by daymanstep
2 days ago
There is a finite amount of hydro in the world. They will run out of viable dam locations pretty quickly at this rate.
2 days ago
There is a finite amount of hydro in the world. They will run out of viable dam locations pretty quickly at this rate.
All the good sites were used by 1940.
The ideal big dam is Hoover Dam. Large, deep canyon in a desert. Narrow, deep canyon dam site. Hard rock geology. No major towns or agricultural areas in the area to be flooded above the dam. That's the best case.
Most later dams are at worse sites.
In which continent?
For the curious:
Cadillac Desert is a great history of American dam building and the Bureau of Reclamation
Except now thanks to climate change the water levels might drop below the intake in lake Mead. Lake Powell is even worse, Glenn canyon dam was always a mistake, and it might stop producing power next year.
Tidal, on the other hand, still has plenty of opportunities.