This article discusses a shocking discovery made recently with respect to green house gas emissions from hydro power plants.
People have propagated the use of hydro power as an alternative source of energy for long. But a few recent discoveries have revealed a horrifying truth, a truth which many people would rather love to ignore as a lie.
Hydro power plants have been proved to be larger emitters of green house gases than the thermal plants themselves. While thermal plant emissions are mainly in the form of exhaust gases into the atmosphere, the hydro power plant emissions are through decomposition of vegetation submerged in their reservoirs by the bacteria.
This brings greater issues to the forefront. What about all those countries which have invested heavy in the generation of ‘Pure’ hydro power? Are we on the verge of a bigger green house disaster than that possible from vehicular and thermal plant emissions?
One of the main issues with hydro power plants in most countries is that they have been set up by submerging forests and other vegetations. When all this vegetation remains submerged under water for long periods of time, it will get decomposed by the action of bacteria and release methane, a very strong greenhouse gas. This being the case, the emissions from hydro plants would exceed those by any other source within a few years.
Another problem regarding emissions from hydro plants is that there are no fixed criteria to measure these emissions and cap them. Though the Kyoto Protocol offers beneficial carbon credits to those countries which regulate their hydro emissions well, there is no fixed rule to find out how emissions from hydro power plants really affect the atmosphere.
This problem must be resolved quickly before the matter goes out of hand.
