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Hydropower. (2009, October 09). Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/hydropower/

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U. (2013, April 19). Energy 101: Hydropower. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=tpigNNTQix8

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Click on the link below to access the assessment. Click "Submit" when you are finished to record your answers.
https://goo.gl/forms/VpzM42z7dMoAhbr42

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Click on the picture below to read the article from National Geographic on Hydropower.

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A typical hydroelectric plant is a system with three parts: a power plant where the electricity is produced, a dam that can be opened or closed to control water flow, and a reservoir where water is stored. The water behind the dam flows through an intake and pushes against blades in a turbine, causing them to turn. The turbine spins a generator to produce electricity.

The amount of electricity that can be generated depends on how far the water drops and how much water moves through the system. The electricity can be transported through long-distance electric lines to homes, factories, and businesses. Other types of hydropower plants make use of the flow through a waterway without a dam.

The largest hydropower plants

The biggest hydropower plant in the United States is at the Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River in Washington, a state that gets about two-thirds of its electricity from hydropower.

Hydropower pros and cons

Hydropower has several advantages. Once a dam has been built and the equipment installed, the energy source-flowing water-is free. It's a clean fuel source renewed by snow and rainfall. Hydropower plants can supply large amounts of electricity, and they are relatively easy to adjust for demand by controlling the flow of water through the turbines.

Climate change and the increased risk of drought are also having an impact on the world's hydropower plants. In the western U.S., carbon dioxide emissions over a 15-year period were 100 megatons higher than they normally would have been, according to a 2018 study, as utilities turned to coal and gas to replace hydropower lost to drought.

Even the promise of carbon-free electricity from hydropower has been undermined by revelations that decaying organic material in reservoirs releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.

However, some argue that the environmental impacts of hydroelectric power can be mitigated and remain low compared with burning fossil fuels. In some places, small hydro projects can take advantage of existing water flows or infrastructure. Special water intakes and turbines can help make sure water released from a dam is better aerated to address the problem of low dissolved oxygen. Dams can be planned more strategically to allow fish passages, for example, while water flows at existing dams can be calibrated to give ecosystems more recovery time from flooding cycles. And research continues on ways to make hydropower projects more friendly to the ecosystems around them.

A growing movement is also working to tear down dams that are no longer functioning or needed around the world, with the aim at restoring more natural rivers and the many benefits they provide to wildlife and people, including recreation.

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A typical hydroelectric plant is a system with three parts: a power plant where the electricity is produced, a dam that can be opened or closed to control water flow, and a reservoir where water is stored. The water behind the dam flows through an intake and pushes against blades in a turbine, causing them to turn.

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Due to the fact that dams and reservoirs interrupt the natural flow of water, they drastically change ecosystems. It can also damage the landscape. In addition, it can cause erosion as well as landslides.
Dams prevent important sediments and nutrients from getting downstream, too.

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Learn more about hydropower and how it can be a renewable resource.

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Due to the fact that dams store water in reservoirs, they ensure a steady supply of electricity at all times. Most hydropower is produced from these dams.

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Another way of producing hydropower is similar to hydroelectric dams, as the water continues to turn the turbines to generate electricity.
However, the run-of-the-river approach takes advantage of using the natural flow of a river.
Some of the water may be diverted through pipes, where water is carried into these turbines.

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Generating electricity with water is simple!

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Generating electricity with water is simple!

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In hydropower, or hydroelectric power, we use the kinetic energy of moving water to turn turbines and generate various forms of electricity.

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Hydropower is electrically generated from the energy of moving water.

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As the river water passes through the dam, the water turns the blades of the turbines. The turbines, therefore, cause generators to produce electricity. After the water has passed through the turbines, it flows back into the river from which it came.

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There can be risks using the Run-of-the-River Approach...

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There can be risks using the Run-of-the-River Approach...

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When the seasons change and the river becomes low, little electricity is generated. Hydroelectric dams are the better option for large amounts of water current, while the run-of-the-river approach is more ideal for smaller areas of water.

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In the United States, about 6 percent of the electricity we use is generated by hydropower.

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In the United States, about 6 percent of the electricity we use is generated by hydropower.

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The movement of river water can be used to generate electricity.

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Hydropower is renewable. As long as there are rivers, we can use the water to turn turbines. When electricity is generated with hydropower, nothing is burned. Therefore, hydropower is "clean." Electricity generated by running water is relatively inexpensive.