Hydropower as an Alternative Energy Source Essay

First, the use of hydro energy resource, which is still debatable if it’s renewable or nonrenewable, cannot always be suitable for flat or dry regions and in areas where natural disasters occur. So counties with natural disasters or regions that are not suited is most likely not going to have a hydropower, as mentioned in (Marmulla, 2001, p. 55), dams are unnatural effecting species like fish causing migrations because of habitat loss. This can lead to extinction of species, affecting many ecosystems, since the fish starts to migrate to different areas changing the population balance. For example, Nicola, Elvira,

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

Dam projects can serve many purposes. They compensate for varying amounts of water that nature may send down a river at a given time, or they may serve as a resource to generate hydropower for the local population. The construction of these complicated feats of engineering is an expensive, time consuming task. For whatever reason a dam is built, it will almost always pay for itself in the energy it produces or

to get clean energy for use of cars planes and other things that we use everyday.

Hydropower is

Some cons that hydropower has include; Environmental impact, Displaced people, and Accidents. The environmental impact would be before producing hydropower, it is necessary to build a dam, changing water levels and flooding large areas. It is also necessary to build roads and power lines. This has a strong impact on wildlife and the ecosystem. When building a dam the construction of a large dam often requires that entire towns move out of the area. In the construction of the Three Gorges Dam it is estimated than 1.2 million people were displaced. lastly , in the past old dams often suffered breaches which led to floods and

In this paper I will be discussing the renewable technology Hydropower and the pros and cons of it. I will be using three separate articles from GREENR focusing on hydropower as a whole and some of the possible downsides of this technology in addition to the very noticeable positive effects from hydropower. The three articles mentioned are "Building BRIC: Carrieann Stocks takes a look at recent developments in hydropower across Brazil, Russia, India and China." (International Water Power & Dam Construction) (Jan. 2015), "Electricity Production from Hydroelectric Sources, Top Ten Countries, 2003/4." (Global Reference on the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Online Collection), and "Green streak." (Earth Island Journal) (Jun. 22, 2015). I will be discussing the possible reasoning behind some people not wanting to focus on this possibly very beneficial alternative and try to explain why “If Hydropower is available why don’t we use it?” Keywords: dams, turbine, hydroelectric, renewable resource, nonrenewable resource

Is hydropower the liberator of America? Unlike fossil fuels, hydropower allows for renewable resources to be taken advantage of, while producing energy. This cost effective, environmentally friendly, renewable, and safe, energy source entitled hydropower can replace fossil fuels.

“In some areas of the world, hydroelectric power is the main source of electricity' In South and Central… power. Norway gets 95 percent of its electricity and over 50 percent of all its energy from hydroelectricity. Canada gets 59 percent and the United States gets about 8 percent of its electricity from hydroelectric plants” (Enger and Smith 222). With the development of efforts being made to benefit the environment, why wouldn’t anyone agree to switch to renewable energy? Hydropower has been used in the past to power a number of machines and it worked

Hydro-electric dams are not an environmentally friendly form of producing energy because is will cause people to relocate. In Canada, there was a dam approved to be built in 1958 which caused over 6,500 people to relocate. Hydro-electric dams need large amounts of water in order for the dams to meet the electricity required. Therefore, they need large reservoirs. These big reservoirs and high amounts of water decreases the land area for people and animals to live in. In conclusion, hydro-electric dams are not an environmentally positive form of generating energy, it will cause people to relocate.

5. Water energy (Hydroelectric power) plants use water in a different way, converting the energy in falling water into electricity by passing it through turbines. Fuel Extraction and Production – Water is a critical resource for the drilling and mining of natural gas, coal, oil, and uranium. Pros: 1. Green 2. Reliable. 3. Flexible Cons: 1. Droughts 2. Limited Reservoirs 3. Expensive

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

One resource that is essential to produce electricity is renewable energy. Providing one’s own energy consists of utilizing solar panels, wind turbines and micro hydroelectricity. Solar panels absorb energy from the Sun to produce solar energy. A great number of people who live off the grid use solar power. Wind turbines generate electrical power from the wind and functions in the reverse manner as a fan does. Micro hydroelectricity is another source of energy, which fascinatingly “uses a source of running water, like a stream, to generate electricity” (Dunn 3). Between all three sources of renewable energy, micro hydroelectricity is the most efficient, reliable and commonly used form.

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.

“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)