Hydroelectric Power Renewable Energy Source Term Paper

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Hydroelectric Power: The Renewable Energy Source

For centuries, human have been relying solely on the use of fossil fuel to produce energy. To anticipate the exhaustive use of fossil fuel that has hit the highest point and issued the fear of energy source shortage in the next decades, it is urgent to investigate the closest and renewable potentials to cover the advanced needs of energy.

One of the most popular sources that have been thoroughly investigated and mechanically tested is the use of hydroelectric power. Hydroelectric power plant utilizes natural power from the flowing water, which is channeled into a turbine. The flowing water holds enormous energy to spin the turbine and operate generators. Human can get endless supply of electricity from dams, rivers, waterfalls, or artificial channels.

Unlike the fossil fuel, flowing-water power doesn't run out as long as the water cycle is kept undamaged. This renewable energy source does not limit energy consumption to the earth content and applies easily on many types of water sources. In this way human obtain enough supply without having to destroy the environment for another oilrigs.

Hydropower also has more benefits and less pollution impact as created by another form of power plant. Hydropower plants produce lower gas emissions to the atmosphere than diesel or fossil fuel power plants do. It does not produce liquid waste either. On the other hand, hydropower plants enable the surrounding population to control the water level, reduce the flood risk, obtain regular irrigation schedule for their plantations and enough electricity (Coface Environmental Guidelines, 2002. p. 2)

Hydroelectric plant can be developed in large basis, such as at dams and water reservoirs, as well as in small scale use, for example for home and farms (National Renewable Energy Laboratory, -. par. 2, 4).

Large plants are built on dams and water reservoirs. The system utilizes the high-head hydro principle, which generates energy from the water stream. Water molecules contain potential energy, when after acceleration of its fall from the top of the dam is converted into kinetic energy, which then spins the turbine (Ordal, 2002. par. 2).

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Many outsized dams use the high head standard. The higher the source of water, the higher kinetic energy it will create. As a result, many dams were built in towering construction, like Hoover Dam, Colorado, and most power plants in Norway.

Dam as the main construction is built to collect water from nearby streams. It can be a single block of a giant river, or take up input from several waterways. Dams are usually built with extremely high construction that allows the collected water to reach elevated level of the water surface, which makes it an artificial lake.

Down above the bottom of the dam, a channel is connecting the dam with the turbine pipe, secured with the control gate. When the control gate opens, water comes into the penstock channeling to the turbine and spins it. The turbine rotation activates the magnetic power in the generator and produces alternating current (AC) power. The power goes to the transformer and distributed later as the electricity. Meanwhile, the excess of water from the process exits through the outflow passage, into the normal stream or river on the other side of the dam (Bonsor, 2003. par. 6-12). The water storage at the dam is known as impoundment hydropower.

There is also another type of hydropower that pumps water from the lower to upper reservoir. The technique allows the plant to control the water consumption in the plant. When there is a great of electricity, the water is flowed back to the lower reservoir to turn the turbine (U.S. Department of Energy Hydropower Program, 2001. p. 3).

As for national scale, governments need to allocate serious investment to fund reservoirs development and facilities to integrate the power and electricity resulted. In the U.S., hydroelectric power use is taking about 7% of total energy source (Electric Power Monthly,….....

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