According to the Bend Bulletin,

At the base of Wickiup Dam, where water flows out of the reservoir and into the Deschutes River, a company hopes to tap the running water to generate electricity.

Instead of going through a spillway, the water released from the dam would be diverted and used to turn a turbine, generating enough electricity to power more than 2,000 homes.

“We would just generate electricity based on normal (water flows),” Steimle said.

This is the key. No natural gas lines. No refineries. No coal. No petroleum. No pollution. No carbon dioxide.

This energy literally comes from nature. On the other hand we have coal….Let’s talk about coal.

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists,

Coal generates 54% of our electricity, and is the single biggest air polluter in the U.S.

Air pollution: Burning coal causes smog, soot, acid rain, global warming, and toxic air emissions.

Wastes generated: Ash, sludge, toxic chemicals, and waste heat create more environmental problems.
Fuel supply: Mining, transporting, and storing coal levels mountains and pollutes the land, water, and air.

Water use: Coal plants need billions of gallons of cooling water and harm wildlife.
A typical (500 megawatt) coal plant burns 1.4 million tons of coal each year.

There are about 600 U.S. coal plants. Coal pollutes when it is mined, transported to the power plant, stored, and burned.

Now I’ll be the first to admit, electricity is necessary for our society. We make sacrifices for the luxury of electricity. Limited use of coal is currently necessary. After all…

Irony anyone?

Anyways, back to the Wickiup Dam

“It is best that we develop renewable resources, and you wouldn’t want it to go to waste,” Ross said.

Precisely my point.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 10th, 2008 at 5:48 am and is filed under Energy, Hydroelectric, Investment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.