Colorado River Basin will be much dryer long into the future. Replace the hydropower with solar and batteries, and tear down Glen Canyon dam.
> The basin is severely over-allocated, experts say. The water rights were established during a period of the 20th century when water levels were "unusually high," Erica Fleishman, director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute, told ABC News in May.
> Since the mid-21st century, runoff in the Colorado River Basin has been about 13 to 15% less than in the mid to late 20th century, Schmidt said. Year over year, the basin has experienced reduced supply, often combined with a string of very dry years, and the river system has never been able to adequately rebuild its supply.
> "During those very dry years, we deplete reservoir storage because society is not able to reduce its use at the same rate that nature reduces its supply," Schmidt said.
https://us.headtopics.com/arizona-s-glen-canyon-dam-might-ge... ("It could cost $500 million to $3 billion to modify the 60-year-old Glen Canyon Dam to keep it generating electricity when Lake Powell falls below the level at which its turbines would need to be turned off. Tony Davis The Glen Canyon Dam may get a partial but pricey makeover over the next decade so it can keep producing electricity when, and if, the water it stores falls below the level where it would have to turn off the juice.")
(Glen Canyon dam provides 1320MW of hydro capacity in the Western Area Power Administration, as well as grid services; it is without a doubt cheaper to replace this generation and grid services support with solar and batteries, while removing the dam, based on the cost estimate in this comment to continue hydro operations)
We can do many things at the same time. New coal plants won't be built before regime change, even if funding is allocated. There is a backlog of years for new gas turbine power plants, for example. There are benefits to a country that forgets how to build; it slows down suboptimal decisions.
remember when they filled that lake or city water supply with black floating balls to greatly reduce evaporation
don't supposed that is possible on much larger bodies of water
Colorado River Basin will be much dryer long into the future. Replace the hydropower with solar and batteries, and tear down Glen Canyon dam.
> The basin is severely over-allocated, experts say. The water rights were established during a period of the 20th century when water levels were "unusually high," Erica Fleishman, director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute, told ABC News in May.
> Since the mid-21st century, runoff in the Colorado River Basin has been about 13 to 15% less than in the mid to late 20th century, Schmidt said. Year over year, the basin has experienced reduced supply, often combined with a string of very dry years, and the river system has never been able to adequately rebuild its supply.
> "During those very dry years, we deplete reservoir storage because society is not able to reduce its use at the same rate that nature reduces its supply," Schmidt said.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risks_to_the_Glen_Canyon_Dam
https://gcdamp.com/index.php/HYDROPOWER
https://www.gem.wiki/Glen_Canyon_hydroelectric_plant
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Area_Power_Administrat...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/11/lake-powell-...
https://us.headtopics.com/arizona-s-glen-canyon-dam-might-ge... ("It could cost $500 million to $3 billion to modify the 60-year-old Glen Canyon Dam to keep it generating electricity when Lake Powell falls below the level at which its turbines would need to be turned off. Tony Davis The Glen Canyon Dam may get a partial but pricey makeover over the next decade so it can keep producing electricity when, and if, the water it stores falls below the level where it would have to turn off the juice.")
(Glen Canyon dam provides 1320MW of hydro capacity in the Western Area Power Administration, as well as grid services; it is without a doubt cheaper to replace this generation and grid services support with solar and batteries, while removing the dam, based on the cost estimate in this comment to continue hydro operations)
first we have to stop current administration from funding NEW coal power plants and defunding wind turbines
but I am not sure we can ever undo this much damage
We can do many things at the same time. New coal plants won't be built before regime change, even if funding is allocated. There is a backlog of years for new gas turbine power plants, for example. There are benefits to a country that forgets how to build; it slows down suboptimal decisions.