Commentary: Tearing down dams could save Western rivers — and also make climate change worse
Even if every Western dam stays in place, we’ll need to build a
mind-boggling number of solar fields, wind turbines,
lithium-ion batteries and long-distance electric lines to break
our fossil fuel addiction — and fast. … Start tearing down
dams, and the energy transformation gets even harder. In a
typical year, hydropower plants generate around 6% or 7% of
U.S. electricity. The lower that number gets, the more
sprawling solar and wind farms we’ll need to build.
… Are hydroelectric dams good or bad for the planet and
the people living on it?
