title: Demonstrating a new framework for the comparison of environmental impacts from small- and large-scale hydropower and wind power projects.
abstract: Climate change and the needed reductions in the use of fossil fuels call for the development of renewable energy sources. However, renewable energy production, such as hydropower (both small- and large-scale) and wind power have adverse impacts on the local environment by causing reductions in biodiversity and loss of habitats and species. This paper compares the environmental impacts of many small-scale hydropower plants with a few large-scale hydropower projects and one wind power farm, based on the same set of environmental parameters; land occupation, reduction in wilderness areas (INON), visibility and impacts on red-listed species. Our basis for comparison was similar energy volumes produced, without considering the quality of the energy services provided. The results show that small-scale hydropower performs less favourably in all parameters except land occupation. The land occupation of large hydropower and wind power is in the range of 45-50 m(2)/MWh, which is more than two times larger than the small-scale hydropower, where the large land occupation for large hydropower is explained by the extent of the reservoirs. On all the three other parameters small-scale hydropower performs more than two times worse than both large hydropower and wind power. Wind power compares similarly to large-scale hydropower regarding land occupation, much better on the reduction in INON areas, and in the same range regarding red-listed species. Our results demonstrate that the selected four parameters provide a basis for further development of a fair and consistent comparison of impacts between the analysed renewable technologies.
authors.affiliation: SINTEF Energy Research, Sem Sælands vei 11, NO-7465, Trondheim, Norway; Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Department of Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering, Norway. Electronic address: tor.haakon.bakken@sintef.no.
authors.forename: Tor Haakon
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Bakken
authors.affiliation: Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Department of Geography, Norway.
authors.forename: Anne Guri
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Aase
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), Norway.
authors.forename: Dagmar
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hagen
authors.affiliation: SINTEF Energy Research, Sem Sælands vei 11, NO-7465, Trondheim, Norway.
authors.forename: Håkon
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sundt
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), Norway.
authors.forename: David N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Barton
authors.affiliation: Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Department of Geography, Norway.
authors.forename: Päivi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lujala
mesh_terms: D004777:Environment; D059205:Renewable Energy
keywords: Environmental impacts; GIS analysis; Large-scale hydropower; Small-scale hydropower; Wind power