Being the world’s most populous country and having a rapidly growing economy, China has quickly risen to the top ranks in global energy demand over the past few years. China is the world's second-largest oil consumer behind the United States and became the largest global energy consumer in 2010. Coal contributed 69% of China's total energy consumption in 2011. As the result, China is also the leading energy-related CO2 emitter. As the government aims to address environmental issues, China has a goal to produce at least 15% of overall energy output by 2020 from renewable energy sources. Hydroelectric power is accounted for about 6% of its total energy consumption. China was the world's largest producer of hydroelectric power in 2011. Hydroelectricity has become the key source of renewable energy in China due to its cost-effectiveness and sizeable resource potential. (eia.gov, 2014)
The Three Gorges for which the dam is named are Quatangxia, Wuxia, and Xilingxia. The dam is built in more than two kilometers stretch of Yangtze River which is the longest river in Asia and the fourth longest in the world. The dam is intended to protect millions of people living along the river from disastrous floods, generate electricity for the industrial centers, and transform a 600km stretch of the fast-flowing river into a smooth navigable waterway.
The Three Gorges Dam (TGD) and its associated infrastructure is the largest integrated water project in history. It is also one of the most controversial due to its massive environmental, economic and social impacts. (Gleick and Cooley, 2009) It took 18 years to construct and it costs about US$10.7 billion. The massive project sets records for number of people displaced (at least 1.3 million), number ...
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...idering the concept of targeting the Three Gorges Dam militarily as a deterrent against Chinese military action against Taiwan. (U.S. Department of Defense 2004, as cited by (Gleick and Cooley, 2009)
2.7 Managing the Complexity
2.7.1 Structural
To ensure the quality control of the construction, a series of criteria and standards which meet both design requirements and national standards have been established. The Three Gorges Project Construction Committee under the State Council (TGPCC) established a special panel of experts for the TGP quality inspection, responsible for the regular authoritative inspection and evaluation of the construction quality of TGP. This quality supervision system has served as a guaranteed role to the timely alleviation of quality risks, improvement of engineering quality, and construction of a first-rate project.
(Huichao et al., 2006)
The negative aspects of Glen Canyon Dam greatly exceed the positive aspects. The dam’s hydroelectric power supply is only three percent of the total power used by the six states that are served by the facility. There is a surplus of power on the Colorado Plateau and with more and more power-plants being created in the western hemisphere, Glen Canyon Dam’s power is not needed (Living Rivers: What about the hydroelectric loss). Although the ‘lake’ contains twenty seven million acre feet of water, one and a half million acre feet of water are lost yearly due to evaporation and seepage into the sandstone banks surrounding the ‘lake’ (Living Rivers: What about the water supply?). The loss of that much “water represents millions, even billions of dollars” (Farmer 183). If the government were to employ more water efficient irrigation practices, as much as five million acre feet of water per year could be saved.
Based on the events that lead to the devastating floods in Queensland and the eventual case that was brought against the engineers of the dam, there have been views from both sides of the divide as to whether or not the actions taken by the engineers were actually ethical or otherwise. We have explored this avenue and have found that both sides of the divide have good reasons to justify their actions. Firstly, we shall explore the avenue that the engineers decisions were appropriate and ethical. It can be said that the engineers did employ act utilitarianism in their decisions and actions, hence causing these decisions to be ethically correct. Act utilitarianism is essentially doing the right thing, which would benefit the majority of people, based on the situation that is currently taking place. One of the reasons that explains why the actions taken could be considered as ethically fine, was that if the dam was not opened, there would have been no other way to solve the increasing water levels in the dam. If no action was taken, there could have been seriously devastating effects, like the dam wall eroding due to water spilling over the dam wall, thus weakening the structure, or a loss of water flow control. Professor Hubert Chanson, a professor in hydraulic engineering in the University of Queensland, mentioned that the Wivenhoe Dam was actually designed as an embankment dam, hence it should not be overtopped, that is water should not be allowed to flow over the limits of the dam (Andersen 2011). Despite there being a secondary spillway, however it is recommended that spillway is not put to use, as the use of that spillway would mean that there would be a surge of water leaving the dam, and a loss of control of the water flow, w...
The China’s Great Wall is one of the most spectacular and lasting structural feat ever conceived by the human mind. It is considered as the monument to the Chinese civilization constructed at extreme costs and under myriad sacrifices including loss of lives from hard labor for a worthy cause. The Great Wall, which is translated in Chinese as Chang Cheng was originally constructed to provide protection to the Chinese farmers from the marauding nomadic raiders who raided villages for food. The topics that follows attempt to elaborate the history of the Great Wall; the motives behind its construction; the design, materials, methods as well as the processes and labor that were applied in its construction.
The Hoover Dam is a modern marvel and a testament to American ingenuity. At over six million six hundred thousand tons and jetting seven hundred sixty feet from the canyon floor, six hundred sixty feet across the bottom and, one thousand two hundred forty four feet across the top, the structure is awe inspiring even to a modern audience. Three quarters of a century since its completion it still stands as a symbol of one of the greatest construction projects of the ages. The need for a dam to block the Colorado River was not a new idea when construction began in 1931, but had been mulled around since the dawn of the century. Flooding due to runoff from the Rocky Mountains had devastated crops, and a need for hydroelectric power increased the need for a dam. In 1922 Black Valley was chosen as the spot for the dam’s construction. No one construction company was large enough to take on the project alone, so a group of companies formed a joint venture in order to bid the job. The Six Companies Inc. made up of Morrison-Knudson, the J.F. Shea Company of Portland, MacDonald & Kahn Ltd, Pacific Bridge Company of Portland, Henry J. Kaiser, Bechtel Company of San Francisco were awarded the winning bid for the dam at forty eight million eight hundred ninety thousand nine hundred fifty five dollars. The construction management team had a Herculean task in building this behemoth and faced many problems in its construction. A few of the major issues posed to the team were diverting the Colorado River, provisioning the men and material to get the job done, and the actual construction of the Hoover Dam. The heights involved with project led to many safety obstacles that had to be overcame.
As the global population increases exponentially, having passed six billion in 1999, the world population is expected to be 8.9 billion by the year 2050. The worlds energy consumption will increase by an estimated 54 percent by 2025. Energy demand in the industrialized world is projected to grow 1.2 percent per year. Energy is a critical component of sustained economic growth and improved standards of living. One of the major requirements for sustaining human progress is an adequate source of energy. As the world’s technological enhancements and standards of living improve, so too does their appetite for electricity.
In 2007-2008 ;China became the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. In 2010 China became the world's biggest energy consumer” (Seligsohn, 2015) As Seligsohn
The embankment dam is a massive man-made water barrier. It is created for the purpose of compaction and emplacement of semi plastic mounds having the composition of various components such as soil, clay and rock etc. Nature provides a pseudo permanent waterproof covering for the surface and waterproof core of such dams. The principle of working of such dams is, the force of impoundment creates a downward thrust upon the mass of dam which increase the weight of dam on its foundation. This added force effectively seals and makes waterproof the underlying foundation of the dam, at the interface between dam and stream bed.
...by collecting rain water fopr example. The Shanghai Tower will be seen as a monument to the possibilities behind sustainable engineering and will act as a beacon for future sustainable engineering projects.
Residing on the Colorado River, the Hoover dam rises out of no where. Downstream from the Grand Canyon, this structure is almost as impressive as the Grand Canyon. With its towering height, and awesome power output, it is almost inconceivable that the technology required to build such a structure would have been around in the 1930’s.
Sterling, Brent L. "The Ming Great Wall of China: A Dynasty’s Unending Pursuit of Security."Do Good Fences Make Good Neighbors?: What History Teaches Us about Strategic Barriers and International Security. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown UP, 2009. 121+. Hawai'i Voyager. Web. 25 Oct. 2013.
Energy is the basic necessity of daily life. Nowadays, dependence on fossil fuels for energy needs becoming lower in numerous countries due to the potential of renewable energy to supply sustainable energy to the huge populations in many developing countries who are short of clean and continues energy. Generally, renewable energy can be defined as energy that is derived from natural resources which are constantly replenished and theoretically inexhaustible. Fossil fuels on the other hand can be described as energy that cannot be renewed and will eventually diminish. Thus, in many developing countries renewable energy is the alternative energy to replace non-renewable energy or commonly known as fossil fuels. In addition, according to Sorensen (2004), there is a greater demand for renewable energy sources nowadays due to the uncertainty of fuel price rise in living expenses. Commonly, there are many types of renewable energy available in our world such as wind power, biomass energy, solar energy, hydroelectric power and geothermal energy. However, the main three example of renewable energy are hydroelectric power, solar and biomass energy (Refer to Figure 1 in Appendix 1).
IYER, R.I. (19X9) "Large Dams: The Right Perspective.' Economic and Political Weekly, 14, 107- 116.
River’s water was to build a dam. The huge dam was to be built to provide
Many people have already dammed a small stream using sticks and mud by the time they become adults. Humans have used dams since early civilization, because four-thousand years ago they became aware that floods and droughts affected their well-being and so they began to build dams to protect themselves from these effects.1 The basic principles of dams still apply today as they did before; a dam must prevent water from being passed. Since then, people have been continuing to build and perfect these structures, not knowing the full intensity of their side effects. The hindering effects of dams on humans and their environment heavily outweigh the beneficial ones.
The world that we live into today affords us the expectation that the flip a switch will turn the lights on. As populations increase and developing nations undergo dramatic economic growth, this energy demand will only continue to grow. The International Energy Agency (IEA) believes that “the world’s energy needs could be 50% higher in 2030 than they are today” (ElBaradei). Given this projected growth, it is necessary for world leaders must take action to secure the energy supply. Meaning that world leaders need to start seriously considering an alternative to non-renewable energy sources. “In 2012, the United States generated about 4,054 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. About 68% of the electricity generated was from fossil fuel (coal, natural gas, and petroleum), with 37% attributed from coal” (U.S. Energy Information Administration). The fossil fuels that are used to supply over half of our country’s energy are in finite supply and are increasing in price to astronomical heights.