Does YOUR town have any dams?
Massachusetts helped create the industrial revolution with hydropower. Governor Patrick is looking in that direction today.
Here are some indications: http://www.wickedlocal.com/new…
See also: http://www.wickedlocal.com/wal…
http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=eo…
What I really want is to hear about your town, and your dams, and the history of water power and hydro-electrics where you live. Please post and please respond to the poll!
Here in Arlington there are seven recorded mill rights. Hydropower was once a fact of life. Go to the little known site of the first grist mill in Massachusetts, “Cooks Hollow” just off Mystic and you can hear the water roar, really roar. Of course, the waterfall at Cook’s Hollow doesn’t come close to the Mighty Merrimack. But, still:
http://www.oldschwambmill.org/…
history: http://books.google.com/books?…
There are several other former flumes and mills in Arlington: http://www.wickedlocal.com/arl…
http://www.oldschwambmill.org/
But to be clear, the total power would be 1.5 MW. Assuming that the hydro power would be functioning 24/7/365, that’s as much electricity as generated by 3-5 large wind turbines.
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p>So, I say go for it, but do understand that unless I’ve misunderstood the article, it’s not very much juice.
Our municipal utility has a contract with a local, small hydropower dam. It’s currently under repair (and has been for some time), but when/if it ever runs, it will produce ~50 kW when there’s a lot of water- maybe a few months of the year. Compared to my town’s total load (which averages about 20MW), that’s not much.
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p>I’m not saying we shouldn’t pursue revitalizing small hydro (it can be pretty cost-effective), just noting like stomv that it’s only a small part of the renewable picture.
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p>Pray for cheap solar.
Lawrence has a 16.8 MW dam, and Lowell has 24 MW, although the Northern Canal alone is probably about 17 MW, and some smaller ones generate the other 7 MW.
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p>http://www.enel.it/northAmeric…
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p>These pale in comparison to Grand Coulee in the state of Washington – 6800 MW of power with an operational cost requiring about 2.5 cents per KWH to balance the books. However, that was contructed in the 1930s when such large projects were public works efforts to overcome the Depression.
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p>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G…
I didn’t mean to suggest that the total of all hydro would be 1.5 MW, just that the additional capacity would be an extra 1.5 MW, according to the article.
http://www.enel.it/northAmeric…
Does anyone know how using dams as a source of hydropower energy balances out against the effect these structures have on the natural habitats in local rivers?
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p>It seems to me that a lot of environmental nonprofits have been advocating the removal of dams in our state – and across the nation.
that ensuring that fish runs and other ecosystem requirements would be enforced. The details are, of course, murky.
http://www.epa.gov/region1//np…
Between dams, diversions and gravel mining there isn’t much left of the salmon runs.
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p>http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/…
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p>I’m of mixed opinion of this. On the one hand, hydroelectric is a nice clean cheap power source, but on the other hand, dams do great harm to the riparian environment. Trade offs, trade offs.