Hydropower and environmental sustainability: A holistic assessment using multiple biophysical indicators

Along with other low-carbon combustion-free energy sources, hydropower is considered a valuable tool for mitigating the current climate and ecological crisis and achieve environmental sustainability. However, it is still unclear to what extent hydropower is or not environmentally sustainable. The li...

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Autores principales:	Andrei Briones-Hidrovo, Javier Uche, Amaya Martínez-Gracia
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Elsevier 2021
Materias:	Hydropower Low-carbon combustion-free energy Indicators Environmental sustainability Biophysical assessment Ecology QH540-549.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/a7d683b7b5d94a76b4949e54f17e1f6b
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:a7d683b7b5d94a76b4949e54f17e1f6b2021-12-01T04:52:39ZHydropower and environmental sustainability: A holistic assessment using multiple biophysical indicators1470-160X10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.107748https://doaj.org/article/a7d683b7b5d94a76b4949e54f17e1f6b2021-08-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X21004131https://doaj.org/toc/1470-160XAlong with other low-carbon combustion-free energy sources, hydropower is considered a valuable tool for mitigating the current climate and ecological crisis and achieve environmental sustainability. However, it is still unclear to what extent hydropower is or not environmentally sustainable. The literature reveals i) that no truly holistic assessments have been carried out and ii) that there are contradictory results and conclusions. The present study addresses this gap by conducting a holistic assessment, using eight biophysical indicators of different approaches, and taking two different hydropower plant schemes as study cases. The results of the assessment show that the run-of-river hydropower plant study case is by far more environmentally sustainable than the dam hydropower plant scheme. As hydropower schemes and sizes vary, it is highlighted the importance of including as many indicators as possible to ensure broader and complete assessments and the avoidance of bias in the conclusions and ease comparison with other low-carbon combustion-free energy sources and their technologies. Moreover, the present study addresses how and within which parameters the environmental sustainability of hydropower is usually determined. The complementary set of indicators provided here, which have different scope and complexity, could be adopted for improving future decision-making in energy policies and specifically for hydropower.Andrei Briones-HidrovoJavier UcheAmaya Martínez-GraciaElsevierarticleHydropowerLow-carbon combustion-free energyIndicatorsEnvironmental sustainabilityBiophysical assessmentEcologyQH540-549.5ENEcological Indicators, Vol 127, Iss , Pp 107748- (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Hydropower Low-carbon combustion-free energy Indicators Environmental sustainability Biophysical assessment Ecology QH540-549.5
spellingShingle	Hydropower Low-carbon combustion-free energy Indicators Environmental sustainability Biophysical assessment Ecology QH540-549.5 Andrei Briones-Hidrovo Javier Uche Amaya Martínez-Gracia Hydropower and environmental sustainability: A holistic assessment using multiple biophysical indicators
description	Along with other low-carbon combustion-free energy sources, hydropower is considered a valuable tool for mitigating the current climate and ecological crisis and achieve environmental sustainability. However, it is still unclear to what extent hydropower is or not environmentally sustainable. The literature reveals i) that no truly holistic assessments have been carried out and ii) that there are contradictory results and conclusions. The present study addresses this gap by conducting a holistic assessment, using eight biophysical indicators of different approaches, and taking two different hydropower plant schemes as study cases. The results of the assessment show that the run-of-river hydropower plant study case is by far more environmentally sustainable than the dam hydropower plant scheme. As hydropower schemes and sizes vary, it is highlighted the importance of including as many indicators as possible to ensure broader and complete assessments and the avoidance of bias in the conclusions and ease comparison with other low-carbon combustion-free energy sources and their technologies. Moreover, the present study addresses how and within which parameters the environmental sustainability of hydropower is usually determined. The complementary set of indicators provided here, which have different scope and complexity, could be adopted for improving future decision-making in energy policies and specifically for hydropower.
format	article
author	Andrei Briones-Hidrovo Javier Uche Amaya Martínez-Gracia
author_facet	Andrei Briones-Hidrovo Javier Uche Amaya Martínez-Gracia
author_sort	Andrei Briones-Hidrovo
title	Hydropower and environmental sustainability: A holistic assessment using multiple biophysical indicators
title_short	Hydropower and environmental sustainability: A holistic assessment using multiple biophysical indicators
title_full	Hydropower and environmental sustainability: A holistic assessment using multiple biophysical indicators
title_fullStr	Hydropower and environmental sustainability: A holistic assessment using multiple biophysical indicators
title_full_unstemmed	Hydropower and environmental sustainability: A holistic assessment using multiple biophysical indicators
title_sort	hydropower and environmental sustainability: a holistic assessment using multiple biophysical indicators
publisher	Elsevier
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/a7d683b7b5d94a76b4949e54f17e1f6b
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_version_	1718405741805568000

Hydropower and environmental sustainability: A holistic assessment using multiple biophysical indicators

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