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Hydro's GHG Releases May Be Significant - 7 June 2000 Frequently viewed as a cleaner energy source than coal-fire power plants, hydroelectric dams are in fact contributing to emissions throught to cause global warming, according to a new World Comission on Dams study.The study will be presented this week or next in Bonn, Germany at an international conference to discuss the next steps in greenhouse gas reductions under the Kyoto Protocol. GHGs are released from reservoirs when organic matter washes downstream, is trapped at dams and decays, according to the report. Although the report concludes that hydropower can't be assumed to be cleaner technology than fossil-fueld generation with respect to global warming, it comes with a caveat, said WCD senior adiver Jamie Skinner in a June 2 statement. "The discover that a dam reservoir emits greenhouse gas emissions by itself is inconclusive" because of site-specific factors such as geography, dam/reservoir size and temperature. "In other words, a simplistic, universally applicable good/bad, clean/dirty verdict on dams' impact on cliate change will remain out of reach until host countries devote time, money and scientific attention to these variables," said the WCD. All 30 of the reservoirs studied in tropical and boreal (northern) areas emit carbon disoxide and methane, according to the study. But hydropower in boreal areas such as Canada and Scandinavia produces only one tenth the emissions of comparable coal-fired capacity. But data from Brazil dams confirms the need for more study before "stating definitively" that they are better or worse than coal-fired plants, WCD said. Source: AIR Daily, June 7, 2000 Publisher: Fieldston Publications, Inc. Editors: Maria Bellos (mbellos@fieldston.com) & Marty Coyne (mcoyne@fieldston.com) Contact info: 1800 Mass. Ave., NW Suite 500 Washington, DC 20036-8045 Phone: (202) 775-0240 Fax: (202) 872-8045
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