HYDROPOWER

HYDROPOWER

Hydro” means “water” in Latin – so “hydro power” is made from water. Hydro energy is electricity made using water. Sounds weird, right? Especially since it's dangerous to mix the two. The water never comes in contact with the electricity. How it works is, water flowing down a river is used to spin turbines inside a generator. Large rivers with fast flowing water work the best.

Hydropower is clean. It doesn't produce any greenhouse gases or other air pollution. It also doesn't generate any waste products that might need special handling or disposal. Because it's carbon-free energy, hydropower doesn't burn fossil fuel. Like solar and wind energy, electricity from water is renewable. Water from rivers is a natural resource so it doesn't come with some of the problems other energy sources have, such as cost and insufficient amounts. Hydropower converts kinetic energy from falling water into electricity and never uses up more water than nature produces.

Hydropower doesn't cost a lot of money. On average, the cost for hydropower operations and maintenance is only one-third the cost of a nuclear or a fossil fuel powered facility, Another good thing about hydropower is it's flexible and reliable. Hydropower can be turned on almost immediately to meet the fast growing electricity demands. If you have a stream running through your backyard does that mean you could use it to create energy? Possibly. If you live near the ocean you might even be able to use the energy from waves to make electricity in the future.