How (And Why) Europe Is Removing Its Dams

There is a lot of people not understanding what was said (maintly due to the video's fault) so I'll give a little explanation. They are removing OLD and SMALL damns, which were EXPENSIVE TO MAINTAIN, and were MORE TROUBLE THAN IT'S WORTH.

Those 3 little dams in Finland were inconsequential to flood control and electrical generation. Wise decision to remove them for the fish. Other dams throughout Europe have much more important missions as demonstrated by some deadly flooding.

Misleading intro to the video. Showing some of the largest, gargantuan dams in the Alps. Not a single one of them is being dismantled. The video only shows small weirs or small to medium river dams (even here not really big ones). None of the big dams of the Rhine or the Danube are being dismantled. Dismantling these megadams would ruin renewable energy endeavours and sabotage the relatively eco-friendly shipping lanes … the video is deceiving to the last minute. Not saying the renaturalising small rivers is a bad thing, but this is not what’s happening to the really big and important dams.

All dams have a lifetime, so it makes sense to remove them in a systemic way. Not all dams will be removed, but each one will be evaluated for various beneficial uses. PS — Appreciate how this video lays out the options.

Removing derelict dams sounds good to me but operational and useful ones? That is a much harder sell but perhaps we will learn how worth it it is now! Also yeah updating and improving dams with fish ladders is a good plan as well

It won't be a revolution until we find a way to create abundant renewable power. Here in Sweden 35-45% of our electricity comes from hydro plants. Solar and wind can produce some energy but not enough and not with a stable enough output that works for industry.

We made a camping trip around the Olympic Peninsula one spring. Both the Elwha and the Glines Canyon dams were still in place at that time. The videos were fascinating. We haven't made another trip after the removals. Maybe soon.

europe has 150 000 dams... europe has 155 000 obsolete damn. flawless

When you mentioned Ukraine, i started to think about destruction of Nova-Kakhovka dam, which completely drained huge reservoir leaving only a small portion of Dnipro‘s stream. BTW, this demolition wasn’t made in an eco-friendly way and caused massive destruction.

Dam it It sure was a great Dam video

0:32 is the Vajont reservoir. The mountain above it collapsed and sent a wall of water down the valley wiping out various villages on the 9th of October 1963. More tha 2000 people died. Since then is has been inactive.

"How (And Why) Europe Is Removing Its Dams" So they can re-discover why they built them in the first place.

Brilliant...Very informative

Europe wanting to speedrun deindustrialization.

You can look forward to water shortages. I suggest people invest in rainwater tanks

Meanwhile in Romania, companies pump entire rivers thought pipes just for the renewable energy grants they get for the construction 😢

1 meter tall structure is called a dam in Europe 😂😂😂

Outstanding, we are doing the same in the states.

In Europe it costs $750,000. In US it costs $750,000,000.

It's great that the natural flow of rivers is being restored but what are the solutions regarding power generation? What I've heard is that dams contribute a great amount to a country's ability to produce green power. With so many dams being removed, doesn't that go against the transition to green power? I don't know if I'm right about this but from my understanding, you'd need a lot of wind turbines to be able to generate the same amount of power that you can get from hydro energy, depending on the size of the dam of course. Which power generation alternatives will Finland / Europe rely on to continue meeting power demands after the removal of so many dams?