Synthetic fish provides data to design fish-friendly hydropower facilities
In the Pacific Northwest, young salmon must dodge predatory birds, sea lions and more in their perilous trek toward the ocean. Hydroelectric dams don't make the trip any easier, with their manmade...
View ArticleRussia sounds alarm as Lake Baikal's water levels drop
Russia sounded the alarm Tuesday as water levels in Lake Baikal, the world's largest freshwater lake, dropped to record lows, with environmentalists blaming dry weather and overuse by local industry.
View ArticleDrought sees Rio's main hydro plant turned off
A major Rio hydroelectric power plant was switched off after water levels slipped below an operational minimum following severe drought, Brazil's national grid told AFP on Thursday.
View ArticleTracking fish easier, quicker, safer with new injectable device
Fish no longer need to go under the knife to help researchers understand exactly how they swim through hydroelectric dams, thanks to a new injectable tracking device described in the journal Scientific...
View ArticleEngineering a multipurpose, environmentally friendly dam
Researchers in the Philippines are using green engineering to develop a low-cost dam that aims to prevent flooding, generate electricity, and help end food and water shortages.
View ArticleNew model predicts fish population response to dams, other ecological factors
Researchers have developed a model to assess how dams affect the viability of sea-run fish species that need to pass dams as they use both fresh and marine waters during their lifetimes. NOAA's...
View ArticlePenn historian discusses the threat birds posed to the power grid in 1920s...
In 1913 in Southern California, two 241-mile-long electric lines began carrying power from hydroelectric dams in the Sierra Nevada to customers in Los Angeles—a massive feat of infrastructure. In 1923,...
View Article$700 million plan to help salmon habitat faces new challenge
A massive federal habitat restoration effort in the Columbia River Basin has spent more than $700 million on breaching levies, restoring tidal channels, reconnecting floodplains and other actions meant...
View ArticleEngineers tending to Cameroon's power grid
EPFL has teamed up with Swiss and Cameroonian partners to address major issues like stabilizing the country's existing grid, improving energy efficiency and developing hydroelectric potential.
View ArticleHydroelectric dams drastically reduce tropical forest biodiversity
Widely hailed as 'green' sources of renewable energy, hydroelectric dams have been built worldwide at an unprecedented scale. But research from the University of East Anglia reveals that these major...
View ArticlePoison in the Arctic and the human cost of 'clean' energy
Methylmercury, a potent neurotoxin, is especially high in Arctic marine life but until recently, scientists haven't been able to explain why. Now, research from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of...
View Article16th century church emerges from water in Mexico
A 16th century church submerged in a southern Mexico dam project 49 years ago has reappeared following a severe drought, drawing visitors by boat to gaze at the spectacular ruins.
View ArticleAustria's largest state goes 100% renewable
Austria's largest state said Thursday that 100 percent of its electricity is now generated using renewable sources of energy.
View ArticleChile plans hydropower plant—in desert
Building a $400-million hydroelectric power plant in the world's most arid desert may seem like an engineering debacle, but Chile sees it as a revolutionary way to generate green energy.
View ArticleCosta Rica boasts 99% renewable energy in 2015
Almost all of Costa Rica's electricity came from renewable sources this year, making it one of a few countries in the world to eschew fossil fuels in energy generation, the state electricity agency...
View ArticleBrazil uses dammed lake surface for floating solar panels
Two decades ago, a section of the Amazon rainforest was flooded for a dam that currently produces little electricity. Engineers now see that artificial lake as an ideal surface for floating solar panels.
View ArticleStudy: Farms, hydropower at risk in West's changing climate (Update)
Climate change could upset the complex interplay of rain, snow and temperature in the West, hurting food production, the environment and electrical generation at dams, the federal government warned...
View ArticleRiver food webs threatened by widespread hydropower practice
The decline of aquatic insects downstream from some hydroelectric dams has been linked to a widespread practice known as hydropeaking, whereby river flows are increased during the day when electricity...
View ArticleDammed if you do: Scientists recommend strategies to lessen dams'...
Dams around the world provide critical water supplies and hydropower to growing communities and hundreds of new dams are proposed for developing economies. Though viewed as sources of potential green...
View ArticleMohawks become first tribe to take down a federal dam
A century after the first commercial dam was built on the St. Regis River, blocking the spawning runs of salmon and sturgeon, the stream once central to the traditional culture of New York's Mohawk...
View ArticleNew Mekong River initiative will highlight values of biodiversity, ecosystems
With 60 million people depending on its aquatic resources for food and livelihoods, the lower Mekong River Basin is threatened by rapid development that would adversely affect the people and wildlife...
View ArticleLithuania builds 'dream' Tesla factory with Minecraft
Lithuanian entrepreneurs eager to woo Tesla Motors to their shores have built an entire factory to impress the electric carmaker... inside the Minecraft video game.
View ArticleResearchers simulate global potential of electricity generated using hydropower
TU Delft researchers have completed a detailed account of the global potential of hydropower. The results of their research were published in the scientific journal PLOS One on Wednesday, 8 February 2017.
View ArticleRace for kilowatts empties Bosnian lake
Bosnia's fisheries watchdog gazes over an expanse of sand and mud, a space once occupied by a large thriving lake but recently emptied in the race for electricity production.
View ArticleHydroelectric dams may jeopardize the Amazon's future
Hundreds of built and proposed hydroelectric dams may significantly harm life in and around the Amazon by trapping the flow of rich nutrients and modifying the climate from Central America to the Gulf...
View Article381 new species discovered in the Amazon
A new WWF and Mamirauá Institute for Sustainable Development report, released on 30 August, reveals that a new animal or plant species is discovered in the Amazon every 2 days, the fastest rate to be...
View ArticleHydroelectric dams threaten Brazil's mysterious Pantanal—one of the world's...
The Pantanal in central South America may not be as globally famous as the Amazon rainforest, but it has the continent's highest concentration of wildlife. Now, however, the region's endangered plants...
View ArticleProject seeks sustainable blueprint for hydropower dams
In the Pacific Northwest, the conversation about hydroelectric dams is complicated: Dams hamper the natural migration of salmon, yet they are an important source of cheap, renewable energy for the region.
View Article'Virtual gold' may glitter, but mining it can be really dirty
As the poster child for the growing ranks of computer-generated currencies, bitcoin's recent stratospheric price rises have propelled it from the chat forum-hosted depths of nerddom into the global...
View ArticleStudy suggests hydroelectric dams causing greater impact on Amazon basin than...
A team of researchers from the U.S. and multiple countries in South America has found that hydroelectric dams built in the Amazon river basin, which were built to meet the growing electricity demands...
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