Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that conserving rainforests in the Amazon River Basin will increase the amount of electricity that hydropower projects in the area can produce. The study is the first to quantify the impact of regional rainforest cover on energy production. Its findings reveal that rainforests are more critical than previously thought in generating the rainfall that drives river flow, and ultimately power production, in tropical areas. The research shows that if deforestation continues to increase in the Amazon, energy projections for one of the world's largest dams, the Belo Monte in Brazil, decline by one third.
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