SRXXXIII: Engelbert Humperdinck, In Memoriam

James wrote: harmonium.ro wrote: ^ But isn't hydro-energy also bad for the local ecosystem? I think Caio and James were talking about this a few days ago but I can't remember what the conclusion was.  What? Nope, that wasn't me.

Yes, it was JJ actually.

I got it, but didn't get to listening to it yet. Soon! 

Hullo. And bye! I'm off to bed. 

I only have the "Nazi" album Arbeit Macht Frei. 

Polo wrote: harmonium.ro wrote: ^ But isn't hydro-energy also bad for the local ecosystem? I think Caio and James were talking about this a few days ago but I can't remember what the conclusion was.  Yes, it is, but the hydroelectric plants we have are (good) enough to power the whole country; we even sell the energy to Uruguay.

And Paraguay and Argentina and Venezuela. Hydro power in BR is virtually endless if the government really takes the challenge to build up the infrastructure.

June wrote: It's bad because they usually have to flood lands to do it. Forest, Native reserves, farm lands... anything can go.

You know, that counts for everything: mining, farming, re-foresting, etc. To make something, you must change the envoronment. BUT, if you look it up, the amount of space you flood is actually negligible, compared to the advantages you have: a source of clean water, electric power, navigable waters, durability (> 200 years in some cases), renewability, it is the cheapest way to obtain electrical power and has the cheapest maintenence, isn't dependent of foreign partners (if your country is big enough), etc. The list is f**king huge.

The only disadvantages are: high cost of production / construction, lost of turist atractions (waterfalls usually are), flooding of (sometimes) usable land, relocation (some times).

Just as an example, when the Itaipu power plant was built (the biggest hydro plant in the world for 20 years and still the biggest in power generation), the only loss that happened was that the waterfall which the plant was constructed on could not be seen anymore. The area was not inhabited, it was not used for agriculture, and the forrest was cut down before the land was flooded, so there was absolutelly no harm whatsoever.

But we do suffer when there is no rain for a string of dry months.


Edited by CCVP - March 17 2011 at 20:13

I told my "band" today that we should play djent. The bassist: "Who's that by?"

SolarLuna96 wrote: I told my "band" today that we should play djent. The bassist: "Who's that by?"

lulz at the Wiki abuse here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orla_Guerin

Weird!

Oooh, it's Friday today.  Tonight might end up as Cider night.

Oh and my new laptop keyboard has arrived, so I'm picking it up from my folks tomorrow.  Yey!

Right, I need that cuppa and then I'm off to do stuff.