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Hydroelectricity

From dKosopedia

Contents

Definition

From Wikipedia's entry on Hydroelectricity: Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is a form of hydropower that use the energy released as a result of water falling, or flowing downhill, under the influence of gravity to produce electricity. Hydroelectricity is a renewable energy source.

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Environmental Issues

Hydroelectric power is a form of renewable energy which generates little or no greenhouse gases or other forms of waste when it is operated. This is a major benefit of hydroelectric power compared to fossil fuels and nuclear power.

Hydroelectric power is not without environmental impacts, however. Hydroelectric dams flood large regions, destroying habitats, interrupt river flow which distrupts fish migration (a particular problem with salmon runs in the Pacific Northwest) and harms river ecologies (for example, ending the river floods that scoured the river basin free of silt), and are major construction projects which have an environmental impact (including fossil fuel use) involved in activities connected with that construction.

Hydroelectic power supplies are also finite. There are only so many rivers, and in the United States, many of the most attractive sites to locate hydroelectic power plants reasonably close to population centers have already been largely exploited.

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This page was last modified 03:34, 2 June 2006 by Arthur Smith. Based on work by Andrew Oh-Willeke and dKosopedia user(s) IrishAlum and Opendna. Content is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.


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