AVOIDING FIRST WORLD MISTAKES:

An international team of researchers looked at data from about three million rivers across the world to figure out where hydroelectric dams could be sited with minimal environmental impact.

Their analysis, published in the new journal Nature Water, shows that 124,761 potential locations meet the strict environmental requirements. Over 4,600 of these hydroelectric dams could generate an additional 5.27 Petawatt-hours of energy per year, which is a fifth of the world's present electricity use, while being profitable

Two-thirds of global unused hydropower potential that the researchers calculated is distributed across the Himalayas. And Africa's unused profitable and environmentally sound hydropower resource is four times larger than what the continent has developed so far. This study could help countries better plan their hydroelectricity strategies while considering environmental and societal impact.

In 2020, hydroelectricity produced about 17 percent of the world's power. It is the third-largest source of electricity, after coal and natural gas, and the single largest source of renewable electricity.

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