The History Of Hydroelectricity

Although without dams and advanced technology, using water energy to do work has existed for thousands of years. More than 2,000 years ago, the Greeks used water wheels to mill wheat into flour. On the contrary, the history of using moving water for hydroelectricity is relatively shorter, only having been around for around 100 years. It was only 1882, that the opening of the power plant in Appleton, Wisconsin emerged as the world’s first hydroelectric power plant.(“Energy.gov”)

Figure 1: Three Gorges Dam in China

Hydroelectricity uses the power of flowing water to generate electricity.(“National Geographic”) It is a form of renewable energy as the system only utilises renewable resources and does not directly produce hazardous waste. It is an alternative to the generation of electricity using fossil fuels. Although it does not produce as much electricity compared to fossil fuels, it produces enough electricity to “prevent the burning of 22 billion gallons of oil or 120 million tons of coal each year.” As of 2012, Hydroelectricity produces estimating to around ⅕ of the world electricity. (“Alternative Energy”) The main concept of hydropower plants is when water flows through a dam built in a river. Numerous basic components of a hydropower plant include a dam, which holds back water and creates a reservoir. When the gates on the dam open, the water flows through a connected pipe that leads to the turbine. Pressure increases as it flows through the pipe and turns large blades of the turbine, which is attached to a generator. As the turbine blades turn, magnets in the generator rotate past copper coils and produce alternating current by moving electrons. The transformer inside a powerhouse takes the alternating current and conver...

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...lso affected due to the barrier of dams and changing flow of water. Dams restrict the amount of young salmon able to survive as many are killed swimming downstream by blades of hydropower turbines. Reproduction by adult salmon going upstream is also affected as it is difficult to cross the dams. (“EPA”) Besides this, they are also often devoured and picked by flying birds at the foot of dams. Data shows that the population of the Atlantic Salmon in the US significantly declined from 50,000 to just a few thousand as a result of the effect of dams.

With a looming energy crisis and an unstoppable rapid decrease in fossil fuels, the need for renewable energy is greater than ever. Yet it is inevitable that with every new solution, there are consequences. People can only hope that the energy crisis will be resolved with every new and advanced generation of scientists.