Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Methane stocks in tropical hydropower reservoirs as a potential energy source

Climatic Change Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Cite this article

Abstract

Several studies over the last decade have shown that tropical reservoirs may constitute an appreciable source of methane (CH4) to the atmosphere. Here, we show that the use of low-cost, innovative mitigation and recovery strategies is able not only to reduce these emissions, but also to transform existing biogenic methane stocks into a renewable energy source. Recovered gas may be pumped to large consuming centers or stored locally and burned by gas turbines to generate electricity during high-demand periods, or even purified for transport applications. Our analysis shows that the use of biogenic methane may increase considerably the energy supply in countries, like Brazil, which possess large tropical reservoirs.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abril G, Guérin F, Richard S, Delmas R, Galy-Lacaux C, Gosse P, Tremblay A, Varfalvy L, Dos Santos MA, Matvienko B (2005) Carbon dioxide and methane emissions and the carbon budget of a 10-year old tropical reservoir (Petit Saut, French Guiana). Glob Biogeochem Cycles 19:GB4007. doi:10.1029/2005GB002457

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bambace LAW, Ramos FM, Lima IBT, Rosa RR (2007) Mitigation and recovery of methane emissions from tropical hydroelectric dams. Energy 32:1038–1046

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brazil Agência Nacional de Energia Elétrica (ANEEL) (2005) Atlas de energia elétrica do Brasil (2a edição). Brasília, Brazil

  • Cicerone RJ, Oremland RS (1988) Biogeochemical aspects of atmospheric methane. Glob Biogeochem Cycles 2:299–327

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Delmas R, Richard S, Guérin F, Abril G, Galy-Lacaux C, Delon C, Grégoire A (2004) Long term greenhouse gas emissions from the hydroelectric reservoir of Petit Saut (French Guiana) and potential impacts. In: Tremblay A, Varfalvy L, Roehm C, Garneau M (eds) Greenhouse gas emissions: fluxes and processes. Hydroelectric reservoirs and natural environments, Environmental Science Series. Springer, New York, pp 293–312

    Google Scholar 

  • dos Santos MA, Rosa LP, Sikar B, Sikar E, dos Santos EO (2006) Gross greenhouse gas fluxes from hydro-power reservoir compared to thermo-power plants. Energy Policy 34:481–488

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duchemin E, Lucotte M, Canuel R, Chamberland A (1995) Production of the greenhouse gases CH4 and CO2 by hydroelectric reservoirs of the Boreal region. Glob Biogeochem Cycles 9(4):529–540

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duchemin E, Lucotte M, Queiroz AG, Canuel R, da Silva HCP, Almeida DC, Dezincourt J, Ribeiro LE (2000) Greenhouse gas emissions from an old tropical reservoir in Amazonia: Curuá-Una reservoir. Verh Internat Verein Limnol 27:1391–1395

    Google Scholar 

  • Fearnside PM (1995) Hydroelectric dams in the Brazilian Amazon as sources of greenhouse gases. Environ Conserv 22:7–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Fearnside PM (1997) Greenhouse-gas emissions from Amazonian hydroelectric reservoirs: the example of Brazil’s Tucuruí dam as compared to fossil fuel alternatives. Environ Conserv 24:64–75

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fearnside PM (2002) Greenhouse gas emissions from a hydroelectric reservoir (Brazil’s Tucuruí dam) and the energy policy implications. Water Air Soil Pollut 133:69–96

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fearnside PM (2004) Greenhouse gas emissions from hydroelectric dams: controversies provide a springboard for rethinking a supposedly clean energy source. An editorial comment. Clim Change 66:1–8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fearnside PM (2005a) In: Sevá Filho AO (ed) Tenotã-mõ: alertas sobre as conseqüências dos projetos hidrelétricos no rio Xingu, Pará, Brasil, International Rivers Network, São Paulo, Brazil, 2005. pp 204–241. http://www.irn.org/programs/latamerica/pdf/TenotaMo.pdf

  • Fearnside PM (2005b) Do hydroelectric dams mitigate global warming? The case of Brazil’s Curuá-Una dam. Mitig Adapt Strategies Glob Chang 10(4):675–691

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fearnside PM (2005c) Brazil’s Samuel dam: lessons for hydroelectric development policy and the environment in Amazonia. Environ Manage 35(1):1–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fearnside PM (2006) Dams in the Amazon: Belo Monte and Brazil’s hydroelectric development of the Xingu river basin. Environ Manage 38(1):16–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fearnside PM (2008) Hidrelétricas como ‘fábricas de metano’: O papel dos reservatórios em áreas de floresta tropical na emissão de gases de efeito estufa. Oecologia Brasiliensis 12:100–115

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forster P, 50 others (2007) Changes in atmospheric constituents and radiative forcing. In: Solomon S, Qin D, Manning M, Chen Z, Marquis M, Averyt KB, Tignor M, Miller HL (eds) Climate change 2007: the physical science basis. Contribution of working group to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 129–234

    Google Scholar 

  • Galy-Lacaux C, Delmas R, Jambert C, Dumestre J-F, Labroue L, Richard S, Gosse P (1997) Gaseous emissions and oxygen consumption in hydroelectric dams: a case study in French Guyana. Glob Biogeochem Cycles 11:471–483

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guérin F, Abril G (2007) Significance of pelagic aerobic methane oxidation in the methane and carbon budget of a tropical reservoir. J Geophys Res 112:G03006

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guérin F, Abril G, Richard S, Burban B, Reynouard C, Seyler P, Delmas R (2006) Methane and carbon dioxide emissions from tropical reservoirs: significance of downstream rivers. Geophys Res Lett 33:L21407

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joyce J, Jewell PW (2003) Physical controls on methane ebullition from reservoirs and lakes. Environ Eng Geosci 9:167–178

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keller M, Stallard RF (1994) Methane emission by bubbling from Gatun Lake, Panama. J Geophys Res (Atmos.) 99(D4):8307–8319

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kemenes A, Forsberg BR, Melack JM (2007) Gas release below a tropical hydroelectric dam. Geophys Res Lett 34(12):L12809

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kling GW, Evans WC, Tanyileke G, Kusakabe M, Ohba T, Yoshida Y, Hell JV (2005) Degassing Lakes Nyos and Monoun: defusing certain disaster. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 102(40):14185–14190

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lima IBT (2005) Biogeochemical distinction of methane releases from two Amazon hydroreservoirs. Chemosphere 59:1697–1702

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lima IBT, ENovo MLM, Ballester MV, Ometto JP (1998) Methane production, transport and emission in Amazon hydroelectric plants. In: IEEE IGARSS’98 international geoscience and remote sensing symposium, Seattle, proceedings, pp 2529–2531

  • Lima IBT, Ramos FM, Bambace LAW, Rosa RR (2008) Methane emissions from large dams as renewable energy resources: a developing nation perspective. Mitig Adapt Strategies Glob Change 13:193–206

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Melack JM, Hess LL, Gastil M, Forsberg BR, Hamilton SK, Lima IBT, Novo EMLM (2004) Regionalization of methane emissions in the Amazon Basin with microwave remote sensing. Glob Chang Biol 10:530–544

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muresan B, Cossa D, Richard S, Dominique Y (2008) Monomethylmercury sources in a tropical artificial reservoir. Appl Geochem 23:1101–1126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Novo ELM, Tundisi JG (1994) Contribution of remote sensing techniques to the assessment of methane emission from large tropical reservoirs. Remote Sens Rev 10:143–153

    Google Scholar 

  • Nozhevnikova AN, Holliger C, Ammann A, Zehnder AJB (1997) Methanogenesis in sediments from deep lakes at different temperatures (12–70 degrees C). Water Sci Technol 36:57–64

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pacca S (2007) Impacts from decommissioning of hydroelectric dams: a life cycle perspective. Clim Change 84:281–294

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ramos FM, Lima IBT, Rosa RR, Mazzi EA, Carvalho JC, Rasera MFFL, Ometto JPHB, Assireu AT, Stech JL (2006) Extreme event dynamics in methane ebullition fluxes from tropical reservoirs. Geophys Res Lett 33:L21404

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosa LP, dos Santos MA (2000) Certainty and uncertainty in the science of greenhouse gas emissions from hydroelectric reservoirs (part II) World Commission on Dams, Cape Town, South Africa, 2000. http://www.dams.org/docs/kbase/thematic/tr22pt2.pdf

  • Schimel D, 75 others (1996) Radiative forcing of climate change. In Houghton JT, Meira Filho LG, Callander BA, Harris N, Kattenberg A, Maskell K (eds) Climate change 1995: the science of climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 65–131

    Google Scholar 

  • St Louis VL, Kelly CA, Duchemin E, Rudd JWM, Rosenberg DM (2000) Reservoir surfaces as sources of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere: a global estimate. Bioscience 50:766–775

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whalen SC (2005) Biogeochemistry of methane exchange between natural wetlands and the atmosphere. Environ Eng Sci 22:73–94

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute for Space Research (INPE), Av. dos Astronautas, 1758, 12227-010, São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil

    F. M. Ramos, L. A. W. Bambace & R. R. Rosa

  2. Embrapa Pantanal, Rua 21 de Setembro, 1880, Caixa Postal 109, 79320-900, Corumbá, MS, Brazil

    I. B. T. Lima

  3. Laboratory of Isotope Ecology, Nuclear Energy Center for Agriculture (CENA), Av. Centenário, 303, 13416-000, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil

    E. A. Mazzi

  4. Department of Ecology, National Institute for Research in the Amazon (INPA), Av. André Araújo, 2936, C.P. 478, 69011-970, Manaus, AM, Brazil

    P. M. Fearnside

Authors
  1. F. M. Ramos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. L. A. W. Bambace
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. I. B. T. Lima
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. R. R. Rosa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. E. A. Mazzi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. P. M. Fearnside
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to F. M. Ramos.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ramos, F.M., Bambace, L.A.W., Lima, I.B.T. et al. Methane stocks in tropical hydropower reservoirs as a potential energy source. Climatic Change 93, 1–13 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-008-9542-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-008-9542-6

Keywords

search

Navigation