Essay on Hydro-electric Dams Are Not Eco-Friendly

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

The Site C Dam is an $8.77 billion dollar project organized in British Columbia on the Peace River. A dam full of fresh maintainable water that is converted into energy, decreasing hydro bills and providing thousands of jobs. However, this debatable topic leaves us wondering if the harm the dam does to the ecosystem is really worth the energy, and if it is truly

Hydroelectric dams as energy sources have many advantages; they provide a renewable energy source, it can take the place of fossil fuel usages, and while being built dams can significantly help jobs in the development industry (Perlman). However, these dams are extremely costly, not just economically but environmentally and socially as well. These costs can be demonstrated by looking at the consequences of other dams. Three Gorges in China: release of methane gases, deforestation, water pollution, ecosystem disruption. Glen Canyon Dam: sedimentation, endangerment and extinction of species endemic to the area, poor water quality, crippling of ecosystems downstream—and these are just the environmental impacts! All of these

Furthermore, generating hydroelectricity does not produce any kinds of greenhouse gases or smog emissions. Finding the balance between an efficient energy source that does not produce any greenhouse gases are crucial, especially in this day and time, where climate change is prominently becoming a large issue not just in Canada but all over the world. Between 1990 and 2013 Canada’s increase in emissions were caused by fossil fuels. Fortunately, there was a slight reduction from 2005 to 2013 and that was from the public electricity sector, for example, by using hydroelectric stations. If canada increased the percentage in which the hydroelectric stations supplied energy to, Canada could potentially cut down on greenhouse gas emissions and smog.

Hydroelectric power is not the “green” energy being promoted by Northern Pass. From Concord’s Conservation Committee; “Large-scale hydroelectric generation is not considered sustainable or "green" energy; it relies on the inundation of thousands of acres of boreal forest in Quebec -- by some estimates an area half the size of New Hampshire - and construction of hundreds of miles of transmission lines from distant hydro dams. Such projects contribute to climate change through the release of methane gas from decomposing vegetation.”

Its powers most of the building like homes, hospitals, schools, factories and etc. Hydroelectricity comes in a human cost. The huge damn that required for hydroelectric energy projects create a reservoir that floods an entire valley. Like homes, communities, and towns that may have to relocate as a dam construction begins. However, the projects to make a hydroelectric power generator has forced more than millions of people to relocate. Lifestyles were disputed. We don’t have to burn fuels to cause pollution… pollution free. Hydroelectric developments don’t generate toxic by-products. With an average lifetime of 50 to 100 years, hydroelectricity developments are a long term. It can easily be upgraded to incorporate more recent technologies and have very low operating and maintenance cost. Dams are designed to last decades and so can so contribute to the generation of electricity for many years and decades. Hydroelectricity is the cheapest way to provide energy. Once a dam is constructed, electricity can be produced at a constant rate. Large dams can be useful for flood control. It’s a clean energy source. It does not produce green house gases. When a hydroelectricity water storage dam is built, the water can be used as drinking water and also a recreational purpose such as fishing and boating. Dams saves and reserves water so that it is not wasted into oceans and seas. Controllable source of

Hydroelectric power plant is one of the major power plants all over the world in order to create electricity. It is also one of the best renewable energy sources on the planet earth. In ranking, Canada is the third largest country to produce hydroelectricity power. The efficiency of this power source is 90% and this is very impressive as the percentage of efficiency is very high. Hydro power plants generate 24% of the world’s electricity. More than 1 billion people are associated with hydro power plants as they use the power supply from hydro power plants.

Looking at the benefits and drawbacks of potential energy sources, it’s obvious that each source has many. For hydro-electricity, it’s renewable, cheaper than many other sources, and doesn’t produce any carbon emissions. But, while hydroelectric power plants are being built, marine ecosystems are sometimes destroyed in the process. Due to global warming, there’s a chance that those power plants could in time, be dried

Brazil is the third largest consumer of electricity in the Western Hemisphere and the ninth largest in the world. In 2011, of the 531 trillion watt hours of electric power generated, hydropower accounted for 424 trillion watt hours, approximately a staggering 80%. Brazil undoubtedly has extremely high reliance on hydropower. However, due to the large size of hydroelectric dams, the construction of dams lowering biodiversity in the Amazon Rainforest, and the unstable climate of Brazil, the hydroelectric power across Brazil is environmentally ineffective.

There may be many good things about hydroelectricity but there's also some bad things about this alternative energy source. There is a high initial investment on most hydroelectric sources, with larger dams costing over 20 billion dollars. One other disadvantage is the building of the dam can change the ecosystem in the water because the dam can change the temperature the level of water and can affect the water flow causing fish and other animals to be disturbed. One huge problem in the development and growth of this alternative energy source is that we are running out of areas that can sustain a dam, so eventually we would be limited to the places we create them and could stop the development of hydroelectric

Iceland 's mountains, glaciers, rivers, and geothermal hot spots play a major role in sustainable energy development. Iceland has recognized their natural resources and is utilizing them to create energy production for their country. Currently, Iceland is generating nearly 100 percent renewable energy: 73% hydropower, 27% geothermal, and less than one percent fossil fuels (Orkustofnun, 2015). Melting glaciers supply an abundant resource to rivers which Iceland has harnessed to support hydropower. Hydropower is recognized as a sustainable, clean source of energy. There is concern that hydropower dams are negatively impacting

According to the National Institute for Energy Research and the U.S. Energy Information Administration, solar energy makes up only 0.5% of total energy consumption in the United States, and over 65% of consumed energy is natural gas and petroleum. (2016) These statistics show that nearly two-thirds of the energy the United States uses is not only non-renewable but the processess of harnessing it also causes pollution. Solar Energy is energy that is transferred through solar radiation in the form of electromagnetic energy. In the transference of solar radiation to Earth from the Sun, only one billionth of this energy arrives at Earth 's surface. A joule is the equivalence of one watt of power that is created through exertion for one second. One trillion watts of this generated energy is known as a terawatt. As Haugen and Musser (2012), examined types of alternative, renewable energy sources, they looked at hydro-power. They said that it, “is the most used renewable energy source used in the United States. It accounted for almost 80 percent of the renewable energy and 9 percent of the total electricity generated in the United States in 2008.” This shows that solar is not the only option for renewable energy, nor is it the most used. Solar power, however, does not instigate change in the environment as hydro-power does. In order for many of the dams to be created to instigate the use of hydro-power, waterways have to be rerouted or otherwise altered from their natural

With the high-speed economic development and the incredible growth in human population around the world, electricity demand has increased rapidly (Zarfl et al., 2015). As a fast growing country with the largest population in the world, the electricity generation in China nearly doubled between 2005 and 2011 (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2014). In order to narrow the gap between electricity generation and consumption and, on the other hand, alleviate the environment problems mainly caused by fossil fuel, China has encouraged more investment in renewable energy (Ibid). Hydroelectricity has become the most important renewable resource as China has a large amount of hydroelectric power potential (Ibid). The word “hydroelectric” relates to “the generation of electricity using flowing water to drive a turbine which powers a generator” (Oxford Dictionaries online, 2015). Electricity produced by using

The process to make hydroelectric power uses a reservoir and dam to flow water through a turbine that generates electricity when spun. No waste product remains and enough electricity is made to power cities continuously. Homes, manufacturing factories, and business buildings all run on a necessary portion of hydroelectric power. Your very own clothes would not have been made if there was no hydroelectricity to power the factory they were made in. Those ecards you email your grandma every birthday and Christmas were sent because water generated enough energy to power your computer. Millions of people have jobs because water helps to power their place of work and keep it running.

Dams are also an alternative to minimize energy loss; although some countries don’t use that because of flooding landscapes, disrupting the eco system and displacing people but in a country like Brazil, dams give 80% of the people electricity. Hydropower can contribute to 12% of human energy use.