[green iguana]

OO - I agree w/ just about all you said, except for the centralized planning part. You’d have to be an idiot to put in a new dam now without having the potential for hydro power.

cc, I was thinking more of the new lakes that will be built, whether for power generation, flood control, water supply, or whatever. Those tend to displace a lot of people who don’t want to go, as opposed to wind farms which are usually placed on leased land where the owner is amenable. But your point is well taken, tho’ I’m guessing it would be quite the chore to retrofit an existing dam with power generating turbines.

Never really looked into it tho’. I think you’ve given me a suggested topic for my soon-to-be 6th grade son the next time he has to do a “save the earth” project for school. Which I’m sure will be this fall...

[cripplecreek]

cc, I was thinking more of the new lakes that will be built, whether for power generation, flood control, water supply, or whatever. Those tend to displace a lot of people who don’t want to go, as opposed to wind farms which are usually placed on leased land where the owner is amenable. But your point is well taken, tho’ I’m guessing it would be quite the chore to retrofit an existing dam with power generating turbines.

That's kind of my whole point. There are 10s of thousands of dams already in existence here in the USA now. Obviously most aren't sufficient to be cost effective power producers but a recent Oakridge national laboratory report hundreds that would be. 8 of those were here in Michigan alone.

Energy development at U.S. dams could power more than 4 million homes

Interestingly enough, when John Engler was governor here I had contact with him about potential hydro power and he told me that has office had conducted a study and found 300 dams here in Michigan that could be cost effective energy producers. Unfortunately that cost effectiveness collapsed under the weight of the projected lawsuits that would come from environmental groups and opposing green energy industries (Big wind and solar)

One thing to keep in mind. When we think of hydro, we tend to think of dams hundreds of feet tall containing banks of enormous 200 ton generators like the Hoover dam but those are specifically designed for supplying energy over a wide area. Meanwhile, hydro generation technologies have developed and shrunk considerably.