Utilities used to be owned by the public, not private companies.
The objective was to get the energy to the public in an efficient and self sustaining fashion... IE should pay for itself
WHEN utilities got PRIVATIZED it reduced the incentive to find solutions that did NOT make PROFIT for shareholders.
HAVING "not enough" energy at some times and selling excess across state lines etc became a shell game.
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=40913
AND multiple clean energy projects have been scuttled by Energy Companies who don't want to lose their profit margins.
EVEN SO -- IF the excess energy got put back in for use by the community it was generated in, then it could bring down costs, be used for ENERGY ASSISTANCE programs and allow the "primary sources" that pollute more to be used less.
RE: Fishladders don't work, your example is a small study and it takes MORE than Fish Ladders to solve the whole problem
snip from your link:
Fishways on rivers in the U.S. Northeast are failing, with less than 3 percent of one key species making it upriver to their spawning grounds, according to a new study.
I saw this one working
https://www.scenicwa.com/poi/rocky-reach-dam-visitor-center
Same set up here
https://citybop.com/seattle/ballard-locks-fish-ladder
WHAT is Washington State doing differently? If you look at the ladders in the above two videos, they have been spaced very effectively to give fish a rest between each step up.
For another thing, engineers are working with tribal groups and studying all reasons affecting the success and failure of the efforts to remove the barriers fish face.
AND they are not getting enough funding to do what they know needs to be done as quickly as they need to for certain types of Salmon. BUT they also outline what it will take to fully get the problem resolved. IT MAY TAKE TIME, and that is rushing between our fingertips in some ways, but it does not mean that the entire project is a failure.
https://stateofsalmon.wa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/StateofSalmonExecSummary2020.pdf
MINNESOTA DOESN'T HAVE MOUNTAINS for the reservoirs. True, but we do have 10,000 lakes and if you are using underground heated water for storing excess energy that isn't being captured or used in Solar Farms or from roofs, you don't need the mountains.
BASICALLY, every specific environment needs to examine the needs and as we develop more and more means of making clean energy work, it will.
REDESIGN CITIES so we don't NEED CARS. I agree.
But we still need to move toward energy independence and save the fossil fuels for back up.
Between Wind, Solar and GeoThermal designs that use the Earth itself as part of the equation, we can be a lot more creative than we have been.
IRONICALLY, gentrification in the inner city is moving TOWARD people living in high rises with grocery, hair salon, pet store, restaurants and ATM's onsite so people don't have to leave home very much. In Minnesota, a lot of those are popping up around lakes that people love to walk around anyway and an old RR line has been converted to a "green way" for bikes.
AND ON THE MAP YOU GAVE ME... Canada is doing something right.
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