Capturing the Power of Whirlpools

An Austrian engineer, Franz Zotlöterer, has developed a new method for small scale hydropower by creating a whirlpool that avoids many of the problems typically associated with hydroelectric generation.

In terms of green power generation, solar and wind get much of the attention. Hydropower is as green as wind and solar in terms of limiting emissions, but some of the ecosystem disruption associated with large-scale hydro have taken it off the table as a choice for good green power. However, smaller scale hydropower options can provide electrical power and provide additional benefits to the waterway. …

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Shrinking Tibetan Glacier Threatens Water Shortages

Saturday, 17 January 2009.

Roughly 2 billion Asians will experience water shortages in the coming decades as global warming diminishes glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau, scientists warned on Friday.

The plateau has more than 45,000 glaciers that accumulate during the region’s snowy season, before they drain into Asia’s main rivers, which include the Yellow, Yangtze, Brahmanputra and Mekong. Some scientists refer to the plateau as the “Third Pole” due to its massive glacial ice sheets. …

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Why a New Water Project in China May Be a Catastrophe in Waiting

By Christina Larson, Yale Environment 360. January 12, 2009.

In January 2007, an independent geologist named Yong Yang set out from his home in China’s western Sichuan Province with a small team of researchers packed into two SUVs to find the unmarked place on the Tibetan plateau from which the Yangtze River springs. They drove over 16,000 miles through China’s still-wild western frontier — vast hinterlands where no roads cross, with mountainous terrain known only to local herders, antelope and wolves…

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Group pushes water-conservation measures

by Jeff Alexander | The Muskegon Chronicle | Wednesday December 31, 2008.

Investing $10 billion in water-efficiency programs could play an important role in America’s “green economy,” creating as many as 220,000 jobs while protecting a priceless natural resource.

That was one of the conclusions in a new report produced by the Chicago-based Alliance for the Great Lakes, an environmental advocacy group.

“Water conservation creates jobs, saves money, cuts energy (use) and greenhouse gases, the list goes on,” said Cameron Davis, president of the Alliance for the Great Lakes. “It’s one of the rare magic wands we have in the water world.” …

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