Electricity hydroelectric power

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... 

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-... 

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. 

The principle of harnessing the energy of tides dates back to eleventh-century England when tides were used to turn waterwheels, producing mechanical power. More recently, rising and falling tides have been used to generate electricity, in much the same manner as hydroelectric power plants. 

Hall-Heroult An electrolytic process for making aluminum metal from alumina, invented in 1886 independently by C. M. Hall in the United States, and P. L. Heroult in France. The alumina, made by the Bayer process, is dissolved infused cryolite, Na3AlF6, and electrolyzed at approximately 1,000°C. Because of the large requirement for electricity, the process is operated only where hydroelectric power is available. The cryolite was originally obtained from a deposit in Greenland but is now made synthetically from alumina, hydrofluoric acid, and sodium hydroxide ... 

Wubo" means an abundance of untapped subterranean resource deposits, potential sources of electric power and farm products. It is estimated that China s coal deposits amount to 1600 billion tons, iron ore deposits 120 million tons, and petroleum several billion tons. China s hydroelectric power alone is estimated to total 35 billion kilowatts. 

The water in rivers and streams can be captured and turned into hydropower (HP), also called hydroelectric power. HP currently provides about 17% of the world s electricity supply, virtually all of Norway s electricity and more than 40% of the electricity nsed in developing countries. However, there is great potential in hydropower worldwide. Norway produces more than 99% of its electricity with hydropower. New Zealand nses hydropower for 75% of its electricity. HP provides more than 97% of all electricity generated by renewable sources. Other sources, biomass, geothermal, solar and wind account for less than 3% of renewable electricity production. When the electricity share of total energy consumption is considered, the increase becomes even more dramatic. 

Figure 1 clearly shows that the volume withdrawn by hydroelectric power plants accounts for the lion s share of water consumption. The exact volume used by power plants for generating electricity from rivers and streams cannot be precisely quantified due to lack of data. However, in principle it may be assumed that the entire discharge volume is used once or even several times over for electricity generation. 

A chloralkah business should be located either near cheap salt or near cheap electricity, and much of the chemical industry in this country started near Niagara Falls because of the cheap hydroelectric power there. Most of these industries have left this area, and the polluted Love Canal is one of the few remnants of this industry. 

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