Hydroelectric Power Essay

Cameron Johnson
Physics

Hydroelectric Power
Some advantages to hydroelectric power are that it is fueled by water, which is a renewable resource. Water is located in almost every region of the world, which makes renewable energy available to everybody. Hydroelectric power plants can go from generating nothing to their maximum output very quickly, which makes them very useful for peak times in the year. Large scale facilities also provide other benefits including irrigation, flood control and water supply. http://energy.gov/eere/water/benefitshydropower Although there are many advantages to hydroelectric power, there are also disadvantages that come with it. When a dam is first built the water, it floods the surrounding area which causes all of the plant life to die because it cannot get oxygen.
Once the plants die, they cannot decompose because the fungi cannot decompose matter without oxygen, so all of the carbon dioxide and methane is released right into the air. The water may be renewable which makes the cost zero dollars for the future, but the starting cost of building the dam and maintenancing it is a very substantial amount of money. http://www.conserveenergyfuture.com/Disadvantages_HydroPower.php The potential for hydroelectric power to become a large scale factor for the world, is most likely very slim. Most countries do not have the technology, manpower, or

money to start a system like this in their countries. Also, wherever these dams are built the land becomes swampy and it is not very habitable for humans, it costs much more money to live on a swamp maintenance wise than on normal land. Water Reservoirs
The advantages to having an above elevation water reservoir is that the water is pulled up hill with the excess energy not used throughout the day. When the reservoir is full it will then let the water fall onto a watermill which will turn a shaft at the beginning of the day when everybody starts to wake up. This use of renewable energy produces no waste in the environment.
The disadvantages to having an above elevation water reservoir is that if there is no natural mountain or hill nearby, it must be built which costs a lot of money and may end up using a lot of natural gas to complete this construction. These constructions can damage the natural ecosystem, and disrupt how water flows in that area as well.

https://water.usgs.gov/edu/graphics/hydropumpedstorage.gif

Their potential to become a large scale energy provider in the future is not likely I believe. Many smaller countries may not produce enough excess energy to be able to pump the water back into the reservoir at the end of the day. With it being more expensive to build this without a natural rolling landscape, countries that are flat and have no hills would most likely try to find something more efficient to meet their needs instead of trying to make their own towers to store the water. Turbine Comparison
When doing the turbine experiment we found out that our turbine was only 9% efficient in turning wind power into electrical energy. The United States relies on combustion engines to produce either mechanical or electrical energy. I found this website to compare a vehicle’s engine and how it loses energy compared to my turbine.

https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/atv.shtml
Our society has an energy percentage range from 14%30%. Compared to how many people drive vehicles or use combustion engines in any way, that is a huge loss. Our turbines were made by high school students with cardboard and other household items and had gotten a range from 8%15%. This just shows that either people are too stuck on old ways and do not want to stop making their cheap easy money with cheap inefficient ways of producing energy. The Way Things Should Be
I believe that in my lifetime energy efficiency should at least be between
50%75%. Whether or not it is renewable energy or we are still

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