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All energy sources have negative and positive aspects. Coal and oil pollute the environment, nuclear fission produces toxic waste, and solar heaters are not efficient. When compared to other energy sources, hydroelectricity has fewer disadvantages and is being explored and widely used today. Throughout the world an increasing amount of people are turning towards hydroelectric power as a new source of energy. Although the idea of converting water to power might seem simple, the process it must go through involves many steps. There is a lot about this energy resource that people do not know or understand.
This leaves many people thinking, Is hydroelectricity the best energy source for a clean and safe environment? Water is a resource found all over the world, which makes hydroelectricity available to people almost everywhere. Because of its abundance, it is not surprising that hydroelectric power has been around for thousands of years. Some of its first uses include grinding grain, pumping water, and powering saw and grist mills.
Nowadays hydroelectric power is being used to produce electricity for homes and businesses. The use of waterpower dates back to before Christ. Antipater, the Greek poet, mentioned the use of falling water to create energy in 400 B. C. writings.
In Ancient Greece and Rome people used waterwheels for milling corn, and in 250 B. C. a clock was built that was powered by water. During the Middle Ages, large wooden waterwheels were developed with a maximum power output of about 50 horsepower. Later a British engineer, John Season, built the first large waterwheel using cast-iron construction in the late 1880 s. The U.
S. s first industrial use of hydropower to generate electricity occurred in 1880, when 16 brush-arc lamps were powered using a water turbine at the Wolverine Chair Factory in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Two years later, the first hydroelectric plant was built in Appleton, Wisconsin. This plant provided 12. 5 kilowatts of electricity, which provided light for a home and two paper mills. Until that time coal was the only fuel resource used to produce electricity. As electricity demands soared in the middle of the 1900 s, the efficiency of coal and oil fueled power plants increased, and small hydro plants fell out of favor.
To gain more popularity, most new hydroelectric development since the mid 1900 s focused on constructing larger plants to produce electricity for hundreds of thousands to millions of people. One way of supplying such a large number of people with electricity involves the use of a hydroelectric dam. A dam holds back water, which raises the water level of the river in order to create falling water, and it also controls the flow of water. A hydroelectric dam could not run properly without controlling the water level. The overall amount of electricity produced depends on the volume of the water, and also the distance the water falls. If the water only falls a short way, it will not produce as much energy as water that falls a farther distance.
A small amount of water falling from a great height can produce as much power as a large amount of water falling from a shorter distance. The reservoir of water that is created by a hydroelectric dam is actually stored energy. In order to convert this stored energy to a usable form, it must undergo a process. The water first enters the hydroelectric dam through the intake, which prevents animals and plants from flowing through. The intake is sometimes referred to as the trash rack. The floodgate can be raised or lowered to control the flow of water.
Once the floodgate is raised, water flows through a large pipe called the penstock, which transports the water from the dam to the turbines. The water pushes against the turbines and leaves through a draft tube out into the river. The force of falling water pushing against the turbines massive blades causes the turbine to spin. Each turbine is attached to a cylinder, which connects it to a generator. The generators are attached and run by the turbines, so when the turbines spin, the generators do too. As the turbines rotate, they move giant electromagnets through coils of copper wire.
The turning motion produces an electric charge in the coil. The mechanical energy of the turning motion is then changed into electrical energy by the inductors. This converted form of electricity is now usable energy. The transmission lines and long distant power lines then transport the energy to peoples homes and businesses.
Examples of dams include the Itaipu dam and the Grand Coulee Dam. The Itaipu hydroelectric dam is on the Parana River between Brazil and Paraguay and has the greatest capacity in the world. It can generate 12, 600 megawatts when it is placed in full operation. In comparison the Grand Coulee Dam, the largest hydropower plant in North America, only provides 6, 480 megawatts.
Aside from hydroelectric dams, there are other ways to use hydroelectricity as a power source. For example, conventional power plants are one type of a hydroelectric power plant. These plants use a one-way flow of water to generate electricity. Run-of-river plants and storage plants are the two types of conventional power plants. Run-of-river plants use very little, if any, stored water and therefore do not need a dam or reservoir and are less expensive than storage plants. Weather changes with the seasons and this causes the run-of-river plants to have large changes in power output.
The storage power plants have enough stored water to make up for all seasonal changes in water flow. These plants also provide equal amounts of energy throughout the year. Water is normally stored during high flows, and released during low flow periods. Most storage plants operate on an annual refill cycle, but some have large storage capacities to control low flows during periods lasting several years.
It depends on where the dam is located in the world to determine if it needs a great deal of stored water, or just a little. Pumped storage is another type of hydroelectric power plant. This system is used to store energy when it is not needed. A pumped storage system pumps water through a pipe from a lower reservoir, sometimes called a tailbone or after bay. The water is then taken up to an upper reservoir, called a headlong or foreman. This allows electricity to be made at night, when the energy demand is low, moving the water up to the headlong.
Once water is in the headlong, it can be sent down to the tailbone when additional power is needed. The water that goes down then passes through a turbine, and produces electricity just like a regular hydropower plant. Worldwide, hydropower provides one-fifth of the worlds electricity, making it the second largest power source next to fossil fuels. Every year worldwide hydropower plants produce the energy equivalent to 22 billion barrels of oil. In many countries, hydroelectric power is the dominant source of electric power.
For example in 1998, both Norway and the Democratic Republic of Congo produced 99 percent of their power from hydroelectric plants. Hydroelectric power is also widely used throughout the United States. Leading hydropower states include California, Oregon, Washington, New York, and Tennessee. Leading hydropower countries are the United States, Canada, and the former Soviet Union. The United States alone represents fourteen percent of hydroelectric energy power produced worldwide. Although there are many pros of hydropower, there are fewer cons.
For example a dam can supply an entire city with power, but it can also affect the environment. After comparing the pluses and minuses, you will be able to decide if hydroelectricity is the best energy source for a clean and safe environment. Some positive aspects of hydroelectricity include the following: it helps reduce dependence on fossil fuels and oil, does not pollute the environment, and is an inexhaustible fuel source. Overall, hydroelectricity is a clean and safe source of energy.
Because water is provided free by nature and renews itself when it rains, costs for generating hydropower plants are lowest of all energy sources. Unlike many other sources of energy, hydropower does not produce waste, greenhouse gases, or other air pollution. When water runs through these hydropower plants, it is not altered in any way making the water available for recreation and agricultural use after it has helped produce energy. Although water is not altered in any way while it goes through a hydropower unit, the water quality changes as the water is used more and more. The water slowly loses its oxygen content, takes higher temperatures, and gains phosphorus and nitrogen content.
This change makes it more difficult for fish to live in these waters. In addition, building hydropower units effects migrating habits of fish such as the salmon. These fish migrate upstream to the places where they were born to lay their eggs. With dams in place, the fish cannot get upstream to lay their eggs. This is becoming a major problem, which could lead to the extinction of salmon. More dams need to start building fish ladders, so that the fish can safely avoid these dams.
These fish also tend to swim into the turbines of some hydroelectric plants and are killed. Also hydropower dams are costly to build and maintain. If a dam erodes, it requires a lot of money to fix. They may be cheap to run, but the construction requires a long time and a lot of money.
Dams can be held responsible for some floods that occur. Sometimes cities have to be relocated and fisheries are damaged or even ruined. Building dams ruin the scenic beauty of rivers and interfere with recreational activities, such as boating and fishing. Hydroelectric power may have many disadvantages, but I believe that there are many more pros to this resource than there are of cons. This energy supply is clean and uses a resource we have plentiful amounts of. It is renewable and available to people around the world.
I believe that hydroelectric power would be the best source for a clean and safe environment. The water used to generate electricity does not pollute the environment or produce harmful byproducts, and it can be reused after it has helped produce electricity. Hydropower has a minimal environmental impact, and when compared to other methods of producing electricity, it is the best resource to maintain a clean and safe environment. Majority of the world is covered in water, which makes it a plentiful resource. Annually millions of people all over the world benefit from and rely on hydroelectric power plants. This is a precious energy source that people everywhere should take advantage of.
Hydroelectric power has always been an important part of the worlds electricity supply, providing reliable, cost effective electricity, and will continue to do so in the future. The environmental impacts of hydropower must be compared with other alternatives, such as coal and fossil fuels. Although damage to the area around some dams may be significant, acid rain, nitrogen deposition, and thermal pollution from coal plants also lead to damage, as well as to air pollution and global warming emissions. People have to realize that all energy sources will have environmental effects, but hydropower has the least impact on nature and helps to sustain a clean and safe environment for all.
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