The Oil Drum: Net Energy Discussions about Energy and Our Future The Energy Return of (Industrial) Solar -Passive Solar, PV, Wind and Hydro (#5 of 6 (original) (raw)
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Alternative Energy: Hydropower
2012
Water has always been one of mankind's most vital resources. While the human body can go weeks without food, it can only survive for a couple of days without water consumption. Crops in the field will shrivel and die without a readily available supply. We use it for cleaning; we use it for cooking. And since almost the start of recorded history, we have used it as an energy source. Some of the first recorded mentions of hydropower go back over 2,000 years ago to ancient Greece and Egypt, where water wheels were connected to grindstones to turn wheat into flour. Harnessing water for this laborious task allowed for large quantities of food to be processed, which allowed for job specialization and civilization to grow. Later, these same water wheels were connected to rudimentary equipment such as lathes, saw blades, and looms in order to produce such goods as furniture and fabric. By the 1700's, factories were mass-producing these products, which allowed for even more specialization of jobs and the growth of large cities. The invention of the electrical generator in the late 1800's produced a new way to exploit hydropower for the growth of civilization. By marrying water turbines to generators with belts and gears, a reliable source of electricity was created that could be used to power factories and businesses around the clock. The large supply of rivers and streams in the Eastern U.S. became a readily-available source of energy that was quickly exploited. The first hydroelectric power plant was built in Niagara Falls in 1881 to power street lights in the city. Before the end of that decade, over 200 additional power plants were built in the U.S. 1 The creation of the Bureau of Reclamation in 1902 further sped the development of hydroelectric power in the U.S. The Bureau was created to "reclaim" arid lands in the U.S. and make them farmable and livable. This was to be done by providing irrigation water for homesteaders in the Western U.S. who had been lobbying for more water to operate their farms and ranches. In order to meet these needs, the Bureau set out on a dam building program throughout the region. Initially, the dams were funded by selling land and mineral leases. From 1902 to 1928, this resulted in about 60 dams being built, of which 7 had hydroelectric units attached. However, in 1928, the Boulder Canyon Project Act was passed, which started U.S. Treasury funding of projects as well as allowing the selling of electricity from hydroelectric facilities. Over the following 40 years, it resulted in over 160 additional dams being built, with 49 of these having hydroelectric facilities 2. This dam building spurt created a massive increase in the amount of hydroelectric energy produced, tripling it from 1 quadrillion BTU's of energy to over 3 quadrillion by the late 1970's. Figure 1 shows a plot of the amount of hydroelectric energy produced in the U.S. since the 1880's 3. The year 1968, though, saw the last major dam building projects for the Bureau passed by Congress. This was done with the Colorado River Basin Projects Act. Since that time, the Bureau has built fewer than 20 dams, and hydroelectric capacity has leveled off. Environmental Problems What happened to this resource that once showed such great potential for growth? At one time, hydroelectric power accounted for almost 40% of America's electrical consumption. Today, it is closer to 7%. From 1980 until today, there has been no appreciable increase in hydroelectric power production,
2011
Abstract: Hydropower is recognised worldwide as robust and well-tested renewable energy technology in the electricity generation sector, preferred because of its efficient energy conversion processes. Modern installations can convert up to 95% of the energy of ...
Hydroelectric Power Generation
Hydroelectric Power Generation Dr. Osama Mohammed Elmardi Suleiman Khayal, 2019
It's a form of energy … a renewable resource. Hydropower provides about 96 percent of the renewable energy in the United States. Other renewable resources include geothermal, wave power, tidal power, wind power, and solar power. Hydroelectric power plants do not use up resources to create electricity nor do they pollute the air, land, or water, as other power plants may. Hydroelectric power has played an important part in the development of this Nation's electric power industry. Both small and large hydroelectric power developments were instrumental in the early expansion of the electric power industry. Hydroelectric power comes from flowing water … winter and spring runoff from mountain streams and clear lakes. Water, when it is falling by the force of gravity, can be used to turn turbines and generators that produce electricity. Hydroelectric power is important to our Nation. Growing populations and modern technologies require vast amounts of electricity for creating, building, and expanding. In the 1920's, hydroelectric plants supplied as much as 40 percent of the electric energy produced. Although the amount of energy produced by this means has steadily increased, the amount produced by other types of power plants has increased at a faster rate and hydroelectric power presently supplies about 10 percent of the electrical generating capacity of the United States. Hydropower is an essential contributor in the national power grid because of its ability to respond quickly to rapidly varying loads or system disturbances, which base load plants with steam systems powered by combustion or nuclear processes cannot accommodate.