Hydroelectric Power Vs. Coal Power

Energy is an important part of life producing the power of movement, heat, and production of electricity in many different ways. Therefore, choosing the correct source of energy is important for the environment and humans. Renewable energy that produces electricity never runs out, causing a lower environmental impact. Solar, Biomass, Wind, Geothermal, and Hydropower energy should be used globally to produce electricity. On the other hand, producing electricity from nonrenewable energy sources can be very harmful to humans and the environment. Humans can easily be dependent on it, which may not be the best option when it comes to finance, efficiency, sustainability and more. Approximately 52% of the US electricity comes from polluting sources like natural gas, oil, nuclear, and hydropower that have a lot of disadvantages effecting the environment in a negative way.

Moving into the next renewable energy, there is a big advantage that hydroelectric power is that hydropower dams is a huge renewable resource and using water to create electricity has no carbon footprint. As well as there is less pollution from it overall. There are many advantages but there are two distinct disadvantages, one of them being the cost to build an electric power station. The cost

Nowadays, coal is still one of the greatest used energy to generate power in so many countries. Using coal in electricity generation is 93% in South African, 87% in Poland, 79% in China, 78% in Australia, 45% in USA, 41% in Germany, 58% in Israel etc. (Coal & Electricity) From the data above, even the developed countries use coal to generate power as the main source. In many developed countries, energy generation is still based on coal as a long-term source. In recent years, although there is an increasing number of equipment using gas and wind to generate the power, it is still lower than the proportion of coal-fired power generation. The reason why most countries choose coal as a main source to generate electricity, is that there are many advantages in using coal to generate electricity. First of all, coal is the

Hydropower is a renewable resource that is clean, affordable and durable. This resource is clean due to the way you gather the energy from it. hydroelectric and coal-fired power plants produce electricity in a similar way. In both cases a power source is used to turn a propeller piece called a turbine, which then turns a metal shaft in an electric generator (the motor that produces electricity). A coal-fired power plant uses steam to turn the turbine blades; whereas a hydroelectric

It is estimated that the demand for power will grow two and a half percent per year. Even if the demand for energy didn’t increase in the future but stayed where it is nuclear would still be the best choice for power production. Nuclear costs less and is environmentally cleaner than coal, which currently supplies approximately fifty percent of the power in the U.S. (Loewen 53). In addition nuclear has an exemplary safety record. The group of people who oppose nuclear and promote renewable power sources, hereafter termed environmentalists, do so for very sound reasons. However,

A more advanced version of hydropower is hydroelectric power. It is the electricity created by water. For example, when the waterwheel receives water pressure, it begins to turn. Connected to a motor, the wheel begins to generate energy. Eventually, the power is dished out and distributed

Hydroelectric is a form of energy it is a renewable resource. Hydroelectricity is the most important and widely used renewable source of energy. Hydroelectric relies on water, which is clean and renewable energy source. Renewable energy comes from natural resources. Non-Renewable energy source includes coal, oil and natural gas. Water is renewable because water continually recycles itself. To harness energy from flowing water, the water must be controlled; a large reservoir is created, usually by damming a river to create an artificial lake or reservoir. Water is channeled through tunnels in the dam. The energy of water flowing through the dam causes the turbines to turn and make the

Renewable energy is considered an environmental friendly way of producing energy; according to http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/index/tech.html, “in contrast, the many types of renewable energy resources-such as wind and solar energy-are constantly replenished and will never

Another great factor that makes solar energy better than coal is it is renewable unlike coal which is non-renewable or limited. If you don’t know what renewable energy is, it is energy that comes from a limitless energy source. Solar energy is so renewable because it comes from the sun which is always giving off energy. Since solar energy comes from the sun it an unlimited energy source. While many countries and regions have access to coal not all do but nearly every town has access to sunlight. For those who do not have access to coal have struggled to make economic development. “Each day more solar energy falls to the Earth than the total amount of energy 6.1 billion inhabitants would consume in 27 years” (National Renewable Energy Laboratory). That means that the energy we get from the sun exceeds 35,000 times the amount of energy used by man.

In short, the water which is captured in a dam flows through a tunnel which has turbines at the end. The speed of water turns the turbines, and following to that, the turbines turns the generator and create electricity and send it to the transformers. The transformers then supply the electricity in a designated area.

Coal and natural gas are the United States’ main fossil fuels used as energy sources. These fossil fuels both contain mixtures of hydrocarbons, which is a chemical compound of carbon and hydrogen (Olah, 2005). Currently, fossil fuels provide eighty-five percent of commercial energy, such as businesses, worldwide and this eighty-five percent does not even account for residential use. Imagine if the residential energy use was accounted for in that eighty-five percent (Davison, 2007). According to Goodell (2006), “Between 1950 and 2000, the world population increased by 140 percent and fossil fuel consumption increased by 400 percent. By 2030, the world’s demand for energy is expected to more than double,” with most of the electricity

In 1831, scientist Michael Farday discovered the first form of electricity. He found that when a magnet moved inside a copper coil it created what is known as an electric current. This invention is known as a turbine generator. Even today, in full sized power stations this simple invention is still used and works very effectively. These power stations create mass amounts of energy to turn the turbines. Most of the time the energy is made from the heat, for example when coal is burned. More environmentally friendly power stations use wind or flowing water to turn these turbines. This is known as renewable energy because it will not run out, unlike when oil and coal are used.(3)

“Worldwide, hydropower facilities possess a significant amount of installed electric generating capacity. IEA statistics indicate that at the end of 2001 there was in excess of 450,000 MW of installed capacity within IEA member countries, with about half in Europe and half in North America. In addition to conventional hydropower, there is more than 80,000 MW of installed pumped-hydro capacity in IEA countries. In contrast, utility-scale wind power is relatively new in the electric market, but increasing rapidly” (Integration of Wind and Hydropower Systems)

As we all can see all energy sources have drawbacks even the clean hydropower, some of the advantages of clean hydropower energy are as follow: Nuclear power generation does emit relatively low amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2).

Hydroelectric power tends to upset the ecosystems in rivers and lakes. It affects the fish and wild life population. Nuclear energy is a very controversial subject. Although it produces high quantities of power with relative efficiency, it is very hard to dispose of the waste. While wind and solar power have no waste products, they require enormous amounts of land