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Comment by nish__ | Hacker News Reader

At the end of the day, nothing beats hydro electric power. It's hidden, consistent and the technology is very mature. Really the OG of renewable energy. If we could get our appliances running efficiently enough, I think we could run the whole grid on it.

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Hydro power (dams) causes massive declines in native fish populations in the affected rivers, which is especially significant for salmonids. There have been attempts to mitigate these issues with 'fish ladders' (as well as more complicated schemes), but they haven't been very effective.

And they fill up with silt and generate less power over time.

One problem with hydro is we've long ago exhausted the easy wins, and then went on to build the kinda wash outs. See the fight over Glen canyon, which even its architect went on to admit was a mistake. The wins now are in closed loop pumped hydro; see https://www.volts.wtf/p/whats-the-deal-with-pumped-hydro

> which even its architect went on to admit was a mistake.

Who are you referring to? A quick Google search didn't confirm what you wrote.

> A number of prominent Westerners have spoken out against the dam over the years - Republican icon Barry Goldwater, former congressman and interior secretary Stewart Udall, his brother and another former congressman, Mo Udall, and David Brower, a patriarch of the environmental movement.

> All supported dam legislation in 1956. All now say it was a mistake. Goldwater calls the dam "the one vote I wish I could take back."

From https://lasvegassun.com/news/1997/may/26/once-proud-symbol-g...

I meant architect as in "political architect"

Thanks for providing an update, but none of those people were the "architect" in any sense, political or otherwise.

The main person responsible for getting the dam built was Floyd Dominy, and he still supported the dam up to his death, which is why I asked in the first place.

Lakes Powell and Mead would like a word...

Huh? Solar has all of that and doesn't even have moving parts. The only arguable downside is it increases more sunlight absorbed by the earth (as opposed to reflecting it). You may say but what about nighttime - im talking about in aggregate on earth, just like hydro only works well with only water

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