Energy
After a Long Boom, an Uncertain Future for Big Dam Projects
A timely analysis piece by Yale Environment 360 on the rise of wind and solar power, coupled with the increasing social, environmental and financial costs of hydropower projects, could spell the end of an era of big dams. But even anti-dam activists say it’s too early ...
Temporary shelters set up for residents affected by dam collapse in Laos
An under-construction saddle dam of the Xe Pian-Xe Nam Noy hydropower project, collapsed on July 23, unleashing a large amount of water into some 13 villages of Sanamxay district, some 560 km southeast of Lao capital Vientiane. Keep reading ...
More talk on Pak Bang Dam, but is anyone listening?
THE THAI delegation at a meeting this week on a third dam planned for the Lower Mekong River at Pak Bang in Laos urged the Chinese project developer, Datang Corp, to conduct a transboundary study to resolve outstanding issues. The developer appeared hesitant to take ...
More Southeast Asian Dam Disasters Likely Unless Funders Ensure Higher Standards
The Lao dam disaster in July that resulted in heavy flooding in two provinces that left at least 40 people dead and displaced 7,000 others has drawn both regional and international attention to the potential dangers of Southeast Asia’s current dam-building spree. With plans for ...
Collapsed Lao dam ‘was built on a sinkhole’
The site of a tragic dam collapse in southern Laos three months ago was geologically unsuitable for such a project, an American engineer has claimed. Richard Meehan is an MIT-trained engineer who teaches at Stanford University in the United States, who has experience in designing and ...
In Laos, a World Bank 'model' dam and the myth of sustainable hydropower
It wasn’t a flood. It was a tsunami, Premrudee Daorung said of the wall of water that tore through the forests of Laos’ Attapeu province, snapping timber like matchsticks and flattening entire villages. Keep reading ...
Việt Nam to open electricity wholesale market next year
The competitive electricity wholesale market will be fully operational starting in 2019 following a successful year-long pilot period. Keep reading ...
The Promise and Pitfalls of Hydropower Development Along the Mekong River
The collapse of a dam this summer in southeastern Laos, which triggered massive flooding that killed dozens and displaced thousands of people, has brought a renewed focus on hydroelectric dams in mainland Southeast Asia. Proponents of hydroelectric dams argue they will bring benefits in the ...
China Reshapes The Vital Mekong River To Power Its Expansion
Chinese tourists account for more visitors to Thailand — and much of Southeast Asia — than from any other country. []What’s more, China is building a series of hydropower dams on the Mekong, which analysts say will produce needed electricity while posing major threats to the ...
China Dams the World
Just last year in 2017 a group of local Indonesian and international scientists introduced the newest great ape to the world, the Tapanuli orangutan, or Pongo tapanuliensis. This sub-species of the Sumatran orangutan is found only in two forest blocks southwest of Lake Toba on ...
