Hydro Energy

Having researched nuclear energy and geothermal energy, I have seen benefits and disadvantages for both forms of providing energy and have decided to continue looking at other forms of energy and which is the most beneficial for energy consumption and the least damaging to our global environment and our impact on the atmosphere. This has brought me to the study of hydro energy, or energy derived from water. Water contains kinetic energy, which is energy that is used during the process of movement, and potential energy, which is energy stored in the water that will be used when it is transferred to kinetic energy during the process of movement. Water power plants generate hydro energy when water flows or falls, they conduct this energy through turbines and generators. Dams are build to reserve water energy, the water in the reservoir falls through the dam into a turbine, in the turbine water in converted into chemical energy. The chemical energy is used in generators to provide electricity to communities and water is recycled back into the natural environment. The process of hydroelectricity emits small amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Many countries throughout the world use hydro energy as an energy source for society. In the USA 13% of energy is generated from hydro energy, and in Norway 99% of their energy is derived from hydro energy. While all this information on hydro energy seems to be a perfect solution for solving energy problems there are also disadvantages to using water to generate energy. The disadvantages of hydro energy include: energy plants take up a large amount of space and may cause a disruption to the natural environment and animal populations, large hydro energy plants may remove natural flowing rivers, and prevent people from using them for recreational purposes such as fishing, kayaking, and canoeing, and the hydroelectric plants may decrease the sea and aquatic life in the area.

References:

Water energy faq. (2009). Retrieved from http://www.lenntech.com/water-energy-faq.html