hydroelectric dams in amazonia as contributors to global warming: the controversy heats up philip m....
TRANSCRIPT
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HYDROELECTRIC DAMS IN AMAZONIA AS
CONTRIBUTORS TO GLOBAL WARMING:
THE CONTROVERSY HEATS UP
Philip M. Fearnside
Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia - INPA
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“It’s baloney and it’s much overblown ... Methane is produced quite substantially in the rain forest and no one suggests cutting down the rain forest.”Karolyn Wolf, spokesperson for the US National Hydropower Association responding to reports of greenhouse gas emissions from reservoirs, 1995.
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Tucuruí spillway photo
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tuc spillway diagram
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Tuc intake diagram
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Eicchornia
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Ivan Tavares macrophytes
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Adjusted methane profile
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Methane export from turbines
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Tuc. emiss. by source
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compar with other estimates
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Human lung
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islands aereal view
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Aereal view 3
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Emissão de madeira acima d'água em Balbina
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“P. Fearnside ... assume[s], without demonstration, that hydro reservoirs increase dramatically the area of floodplain ecosystems. It is probably true that new floodplain ecosystems are created in the periphery of new reservoirs, but a fair assessment must consider the fact that, prior to impoundment, floodplain ecosystems existed in the area of the reservoirs. These large sources are replaced by deep water in the main portion of the reservoir, dramatically reducing methane emissions. So overall, it is possible that this is a zero-sum issue.” (Gagnon 2002)
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Hydroelectric dam emissions in Brazilian Amazonia in 1990 (million tons CO2-C equivalent)
Tucurui Balbina Samuel Curuá-Una Total
Percentage of total recurrent emission
Flux source
Recurrent (inventory) emissions
Surface emissions 0.54 0.75 0.08 0.008 1.38 17
Turbine emissions 2.48 0.72 0.24 0.08 3.52 44
Spillway emissions 3.07 0.00 0.04 0.06 3.17 39
Total recurrent emissions 6.09 1.47 0.37 0.14 8.06 100
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Additional components of net impact Tucurui Balbina Samuel
Curuá-Una Total
Forest biomass aerobic decay 2.58 6.43 1.13 0.01 10.15
Pre-dam ecosystem fluxes (a) -0.09 -0.15 -0.02 -0.003 -0.27
Displaced fossil fuels -3.86 -0.34 -0.13 -0.04 -4.38
Net emission 4.71 7.41 1.35 0.11 13.57
Hydro emission as multiple of thermal 2.3 23.5 11.8 3.7 4.2
(a) Pre-dam ecosystem fluxes: CH4 sink in forest soil, N2O source in forest soil, and CH4 source from forest termites.
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“Nós [o setor de clima do MCT] conversamos com o Prof. Pinguelli [Rosa] e eu pedi ajuda da ELETROBRÁS [sobre o assunto de emissões de gás de efeito estufa de hidrelétricas]; aliás quem coordenou esse trabalho [i.e., a estimativa de emissões de hidrelétricas para o Inventario Nacional] foi a ELETROBRÁS exatamente por causa disso, porque esse assunto estava virando político. Ele tem um impacto muito grande no nível mundial, nós vamos sofrer pressão dos países desenvolvidos por causa desse assunto.
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E esse assunto era pouco conhecido. É maltratado. Ele é maltratado e continua sendo maltratado pelo próprio Philip Fearnside e nós temos que tomar muito cuidado. Esse debate que esta acontecendo agora na imprensa mostra claramente isso, quer dizer, você pega qualquer declaração e leva para um lado para mostrar que o Brasil não é limpo, que o Brasil está se omitindo muito, que o Brasil, implicitamente, no futuro tem que ter compromisso [para reduzir as emissões]. Esse que é o grande debate político e nós estamos nos preparando para isso.” (Brasil, MCT, 2002). http://www.mct.gov.br/clima/brasil/doc/workad.doc
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“It is necessary to avoid ... the lures of the thermo-power and nuclear-power lobbies that are trying to
blame higher emissions on power dams.”
Luiz Pinguelli Rosa, Marco Aurelio dos Santos, Bohdan Matvienko, Ednaldo Oliveira dos Santos &
Elizabeth Sikar (Climatic Change, 2004)
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