Transcript Hydroelectric

Page 400-401 in the textbook
THE POWER OF WATER
Hydropower has been in use since the late 1800’s
the origins of the technology reach back thousands of years.
Archimedes
Ancient Greece
They used water to drive enormous
grist stones to make flour.
History
1849: Invention of the Francis turbine.
1882: The world’s first hydropower plant begins operations in Appleton, Wisconsin, on the Fox River.
1887: The first hydroelectric plant opens in the West, in San Bernadino, California.
1907: Hydropower accounts for 15 percent of U.S. electrical generation.
1920: Hydropower accounts for 25 percent of U.S. electrical generation.
1931: Construction begins on the Hoover Dam, ultimately employing a total of more than 20,000 workers
during the Great Depression.
1937: The Hoover Dam begins to generate power on the Colorado River.
1941-1945: Bureau of Reclamation dams ramped up power output to support America’s efforts in World War II,
producing enough electricity to make 69,000 airplanes and 5,000 ships and tanks during a five year period.
1980: Conventional hydropower capacity is nearly triple compared with 1920 level.
Today: A vast expansion of hydropower’s potential is possible through new technologies for conventional,
pumped storage and marine and hydrokinetic projects,
modernizing existing hydropower facilities and adding generation to existing non-powered dams.
How it works.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpigNNTQix8
How it works.
Some people consider hydroelectric power an ultimate source of
electrical generation because it’s nonpolluting, can be turned on and
off in short order, and uses water as its
supply 49% of its renewable resources.
According to the U.S Department of the Interior
Bureau of Reclamation Power Resources Office, the efficiency of today’s
hydroelectric plant is about ____(?)____.
In the U.S., hydropower is produced for an average of
0.85 cents per kilowatt-hour (kwh). This is about 50% the cost of nuclear,
40% the cost of fossil fuel, and 25% the cost of using natural gas.
Reclamation’s 58 powerplants throughout the Western United States
produce an average of 42 billion kWh (kilowatt-hours) per year, enough to meet the
residential needs of more than 14 million people.**
**42 billion kWh of electrical energy
is equivalent to about 72 million barrels of oil
Reservoirs also collect sediment, concentrating
nutrients as well as pollutants. These sediments
can build up, making the reservoirs shallower.
These reservoirs emit greenhouse gases,
particularly methane, from the
decomposition of organic materials.
vs
The Three Gorges project in China, the world’s
largest reservoir project to date, is projected to deliver
a staggering 22.5 billion watts.
Built as a green alternative to coal-fired generators,
the dam eliminates the discharge of about
100 million tons of CO2 per year.
Hydroelectricity made its largest impact on Texas in the mid-1930s,
as part of the rural electrification efforts of the New Deal.
In current usage, “hydropower” refers solely to electricity generated by
water,long
most often
a dam.of
AsTexas
of 2006, dams
Texas hasin
only
23 dams with
In the
run,through
the role
controlling
hydroelectric power plants out of hundreds of medium to large dams
flooding
preventing
property
damagecapacity
has proven
aroundand
the state.
TheseHydroelectricity
23 dams
have brought
a total generating
of 673
jobs as well
as
electricity
to the Hill they actually produce
megawatts
(MW), although
theimportant
amount
of electricity
more economically
the state than
Country and other areas of theto
state.
annually is well below the maximum potential of generating 100 percent of
hydroelectric
the time.power.
Nevertheless, other sources of power soon
dwarfed the contribution of dams. At the
end of 1946, 15% Texas’ electricity came
from hydropower; its share fell to less than
half of that within about seven years.
vs
Hydroelectricity…
1. is a renewable resource
2. makes it feasible to utilize other renewable resources
3. promotes guaranteed energy and price stability
4. contributes to the storage of drinking water and water for irrigation
5. increases the stability and reliability of electricity systems
6. helps fight climate change
7. improves the air we breathe
8. offers significant contributions to development
9. means clean and cheap energy for today and for tomorrow
10. is a fundamental instrument for sustainable development
Hydroelectricity…
1. has high investment costs
2. is hydrology dependent (precipitation)
3. can be an inundation of land and wildlife habitat
4. can cause a loss or modification of fish habitat
5. can cause fish entrainment or passage restriction
6. can change reservoir and stream water quality
7. can displace local populations
8. can decrease flow of natural fertilizer (silt) to land below dam
9. can cause high CO2 emissions from biomass decay in shallow tropical reservoirs
th): Saving Regulatory
H.R. 5892
H.R. (112
6247th(112
):Hydropower
Our Dams and
Efficiency
New Hydropower Development
Act of 2012and Jobs Act of 2012
Prohibits:
Seventy
years ago, a two-dam complex known as the Cushman Project took effect. It promoted
(1) federal funds from being used to implement a new program, project, activity, or action required
hydroelectric power as a major federal policy. Today it still produces 20% of
by or proposed in a March 16, 2012, memorandum from Steven Chu, Secretary of Energy, to the Power
Tacoma,Washington’s
power. of such program, project, activity, or
Marketing Administrators, until a report
justifying the implementation
Purpose: to improve hydropower,
and for other purposes
action is submitted to Congress;
(2) federal funds from being used to remove, breach, or study the removal or breaching of any
However,
today the political world is against hydroelectric power. Federal policy is in “doubt”
hydroelectric-producing dam unless explicitly authorized by Congress;
of the funds
futureorof
hydroelectricity.
The economic
of goods
by the
dams,
(3) federal
funding
from congressionally
charteredworth
organizations
thatproduced
provide grants
impacting
federal
land and
fish and
wildlife from
being
used for
activities
related
hydroelectric-producing
dam
which
include
eleven
electricity
flood
control,
andmitigation
water for
irrigation,
aretobeing
outweighed in the
removal unless explicitly authorized by Congress; and
licensing process by environmental claims.
(4) federal agencies or congressionally chartered organizations that provide grants impacting federal
land and fish and wildlife from funding any nongovernmental organization that is or was involved
in litigation that would negatively impact hydropower generation during the preceding 10 years
Status: Passed
by
H.R
but
not
by
Senate
Status: Not enacted
Because of increasing concern about the harmful
environmental and social consequences of large
dams, the World Bank and other development
agencies have been pressured to stop funding
new large-scale hydropower projects.
Micro-hydro generators may be the future to
reduce environmental impact.
Informative pamphlets to check out:
http://www.bpa.gov/news/pubs/GeneralPublications/edu-hydro-power.pdf
http://www.usbr.gov/power/edu/pamphlet.pdf
http://www.usbr.gov/power/edu/pamphlet.pdf
http://www.iliumenergy.com/hydroelectric-power-facts/
http://water.usgs.gov/edu/wuhy.html
http://www.hydro.org/tech-and-policy/history-of-hydro/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpigNNTQix8
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2034945/Queen-Elizabeth-uses-greenhydroelecricity-power-Windsor-Castle.html
http://earth.rice.edu/mtpe/geo/geosphere/hot/energyfuture/hydroelectricity.html
http://www.window.state.tx.us/specialrpt/energy/renewable/hydro.php#intexas
http://www.wvic.com/Content/Facts_About_Hydropower.cfm
http://www.whyhydropower.com/HydroTour2b.html
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/112/hr5892
Brenna Rich and Christine Kim