(NewsUSA) - When it comes to renewable energy, moving water proves a largely untapped resource. Even China, home of the world's largest water dam, uses only one-fourth of its potential hydroelectric power.

What stops governments and companies from using more river energy? Hydroelectricity might be renewable, but it certainly isn't green.

Today's technology uses dams to harness moving water's energy. Large dams require energy and materials for construction, displace communities and destroy wildlife habitats.

China's Three Gorges Dam relocated 1.3 million people and is the world's largest consumer of dirt, steel, concrete and stone. The dam increased river pollution and changed China's landscape, so much so that massive landslides now threaten many people's homes.

In the United States, 80,000 dams divert and block moving water, changing river habitats into lakes. Native fish can no longer travel upstream to spawn. They become susceptible to disease and predators and can die in irrigation canals and turbines. In 2008, horrified fishermen saw the biggest Chinook salmon run in the Sacramento River collapse, partly due to a diversion dam.

Governments understand hydroelectric power's potential -; it's cheap and renewable. Currently, dams provide 19 percent of the world's electricity. More than 80 countries are building new dams. But before states start using more hydroelectric power, they need to explore less destructive technologies.

One Hungarian-based technology company, Power of the Dream Ventures, Inc., built a model for a product called RiverPower, which can supply hydroelectric power without requiring dam construction.

RiverPower generators would be submerged at strategic points, using an entire river's flow to generate electricity. The generators are modular, so they can be built to scale. Because rivers don't stop moving, RiverPower would supply energy 24 hours a day, making it more reliable than solar or wind energy.

For more information about RiverPower, visit www.powerofthedream.com. Power of the Dream trades under the symbol PWRV on the OTCBB exchange.