Electricity hydroelectric

There are many benefits for using hydro resources to produce electricity. First, hydropower is a renewable resource oil, natural gas, and coal reserves may be depleted over time. Second, hydro resources are indigenous. A country that has developed its hydroelectric resources does not have to depend on other nations for its electricity hydroelectricity secures a country s access to energy supplies. Third, hydroelectricity is environmentally friendly. It does not emit greenhouse gases, and hydroelectric dams can be used to control floods, divert water for irrigation purposes, and improve navigation on a river. 

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The first centralized electric generating plant in the United States was Edison s three-unit steam-engine-based station, which suppHed electric power to light approximately 5000 electric lamps in a group of homes and businesses in New York City in 1882. Also in 1882, the first hydroelectric power plant went into operation in Appleton, Wisconsin, generating approximately 25 kW of power, enough to power more than 200 100-watt light bulbs. 

Heat Pumps. A heat pump is a refrigeration system that raises heat to a useful level. The most common appHcation is the vapor recompression system for evaporation (qv) (Fig. 14). Its appHcation hinges primarily on low cost power relative to the alternative heating media. If electricity price per unit energy is less than 1.5 times the cost of the heating medium, it merits a close look. This tends to occur when electricity is generated from a cheaper fuel (coal) or when hydroelectric power is available. 

The raw materials for calcium carbide are lime, coke, and electric power (Figure 7.2-3). Thus calcium carbide production is suitable for a country with hydroelectric power but lacks petroleum reserves. Calcium carbide generates acetylene when. icted upon by water. The quantity produced may be small such as using the bright flame of acetylene for... 

The overall reaction is exothermic but required the use of an electric arc furnace which, even with relatively cheap hydroelectricity, made the process very expensive. The severe activation energy barrier, though economically regrettable, is in fact essential to life since, in its absence, all the oxygen in the air would be rapidly consumed and the oceans would be a dilute solution of nitric acid and its salts. [Dilution of HN03(1) to HNOafaq) evolves a further 33.3kJmol at 25 C.l... 

Arrotlier poterrtial problem for hydroelectricity is the possibility of electricity supply disruptions. A severe drought can mean that there will not be enough water to operate a hydroelectric facility. Communities with very high dependence on the hydroelectric resources may find themselves struggling with electricity shortages in the form of brownouts and black-outs. 

This article begins with a description of how hydroelectricity works, from the beginning of the hydrological cycle to the point at which electricity is transmitted to homes and businesses. The histoiy of the dam is outlined and how dams evolved from structures used for providing a fresh water supply to irrigation and finally to providing electricity. The histoiy of hydropower is considered and the different hydroelectric. systems (i.e., conventional, run-of-... 

This water cycle—the process of moving water from oceans to streams and hack again— is essential to the generation of hydroclcctricity. Moving water can be used to perform work and, in particular, hydroelectric power plants employ water to produce electricity. The comhination of abundant rainfall and the right geographical conditions is essential for hydroelectric generation. 

Hydroelectric power is generated by flowing water driving a turbine connected to an electric generator. The two basic types of hydroelectric systems are those based on falling water and those based on natural river current, both of which rely on gravitation-... 

The amount of energy created by a hydroelectric project depends largely upon two factors the pressure of the water acting on the turbine and the volume of water available. Water that falls 1,000 feet generates about twice as much electric power as the same volume of water falling only 500 feet. In addition, if the amount of water available doubles, so does the amount of energy . 

The second type of hydroelectric plant is called a run-of-the-nver system. In this case, the force of the river current applies pressure to the turbine blades to produce electricity. Run-of-the-river systems do not usually have reseiwoirs and cannot store substantial quantities of water. As a result, power production from this type of system depends on the river flow— the electricity supply is highly dependent upon seasonal fluctuations in output. Run-of-river projects are most successful when there are large flows in flat rivers or when a high natural geological drop is present, and when the required electricity output is below the maxiniuiii potential of the site. 

Water was first used to generate electricity in 1880 in Grand Rapids, Michigan when a water turbine was used to provide storefront lighting to the city. In 1882—only two years after Thomas Edison demonstrated the incandescent light bulb—the first hydroelectric station to use Edison s system was installed on the Fox River at Appleton, Wisconsin. In 1881, construction began on the first hydroelectric generat-... 

By the early twentieth centui y, hydroelectric power was providing more than 40 percent of electricity generation in the United States. In 1940, hydropower supplied about three-fourths of all the electricity consumed in the West and Pacific Northwest, and still supplied about one-third of the total U.S. electricity supply. Although hydroelectric-ity s share of total electricity generation has since fallen to about 10 percent in the United States, hydro-electricity provides almost one-fifth of the world s total electricity generation today. 

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