Were Dams considered renewable energy when they were build in the 1940's? This is a serious question.
Hoover Dam is a fine dam and they perform serious inspection on the dam routinely. Yes, it could also fail.
When you look at the dams that you noted did you note the reasons they failed? I read the articles and found the following:
One thing you need to pay attention to many of the dams were aged, many had poor maintenance and the initial construction was flawed.
I also noticed that you listed NO U.S failing dams? We have had several through history. Poor placement of damns and poor construction led to those failures.
This is not a surprise and everyone knows there will always be risk with building any structure.
It sounds like your solution is that we should just curl up in a ball and try not to find a workable solution to our dependency on oil. No one is delusional.
America USED to be great at finding new innovation and we as a nation have become lazy in ideas, hope and ingenuity. I said it and it's true.
2) Vajont Dam, 2000 dead, March 1963, Vajont Italy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajont_Dam Reason for Failure
Cracks in the dam and sluice gates appeared after completion due to construction and engineering errors.
3) Malpassat dam collapse, France, December 1959, 421 dead
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malpasset Reason for Failure
however due to lack of proper funding, the geological study of the region was not thorough
4) Kelly Barnes dam, November 6, 1977, 39 dead.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_Barnes_Dam Reason for Dam Failure
The investigation did however site several possible or probable causes. The failure of the dam's slope may have contributed to weakness in the structure, particularly in the heavy rain. A collapse of the low-level spillway could have also exacerbated this problem
5) Val di Stava dam, July 19, 1985, 268 dead.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Val_di_Stava_Dam_collapse Reason for Dam Failure
An investigation into the disaster found that the dams were poorly maintained and the margin of safe operation was very small.
A pipe in the upper dam used to drain water had begun to sag under the weight of sediment, making the dam's drainage less effective.
6) Shakidor Dam 70 dead, February 2005, 1200 People washed out into Arabian Sea and rescued by the Pakistani military.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakidor_Dam Reason for Dam Failure
Not enough information provided
7) Situ Gitung Dam, March 2009, 100 dead.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situ_Gintung Reason for Failure
the gate leading to the spillway was too small.<3>
8) Biomass toxicity burning, 1.6 million dead per year every damn year:
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs292/en/inde... Reason for rate of Death
Reading the article it appears that the death rate is associated with how the particular population heats their homes. This could be related to poverty levels in different parts of the world etc.
MadMaddie