CONSERVATION STRATEGY FUND LAUNCHES TOOL TO IDENTIFY
‘GOOD’ AND ‘BAD’ HYDRO DAMS
Sebastopol, California, June 26, 2013 – Conservation Strategy Fund (CSF)
announces the launch of the HydroCalculator Tool 3.0. The HydroCalculator
enables ordinary people to compare the economic, environmental and social
aspects of hydroelectric dams with a free online tool. Dams vary widely in their
economic efficiency and the extent of damage they do to ecosystems and
communities. The HydroCalculator is designed to highlight those differences and
thus inform debate over energy development. It is a major overhaul of a previous
tool offered by the organization.
“World energy demand is expected to increase by a third in the next 20 years
and a large share of that will come from dams. Citizens need simple, accessible
tools, like the HydroCalculator, to understand energy options and push for the
ones that make the most economic and environmental sense,” said CSF
president John Reid. “The goal of the HydroCalculator is to stimulate debate,
transparency and ultimately good decisions on hydro development.”
HydroCalculator users input data on the location of the dam, its cost, reservoir
size and capacity. The tool computes the economic return, greenhouse gas
emissions, habitat loss and people displaced per megawatt of capacity. In
addition to creating analyses, users can comment on other projects and message
other users directly, facilitating discussion. Projects can be ranked and viewed
on a global map, where they are color-coded according to their economic rate of
return.
The HydroCalculator Tool can be found online at http://conservationstrategy.org/en/hydrocalculator-analyses, is available in English, Portuguese and
Spanish and currently supports dam analyses in 30 countries. CSF welcomes
any feedback and new users.
Conservation Strategy Fund is a global leader in advancing conservation
solutions powered by economics. Through training and applied field studies, CSF
delivers objective and clear strategies to conservation professionals worldwide.
CSF programs have reached over 1,800 professionals in over 650 organizations,
based in 85+ countries. In 2012, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation honored CSF with the Award for Creative and Effective Institutions.
The prize goes to a highly select set of organizations that demonstrate strong
leadership, impact, and potential for scale. CSF has offices in the US, Bolivia
and Brazil and additional staff in Costa Rica, Colombia, Peru, Uganda and the
UK.