Water Power And Hydro Power

Water is the most important liquid known to human kind. It is found everywhere; on the ground or even in the air we breathe, and it is used as an essential part of everyday life. Hundreds of years ago, people use to utilize water for irrigation and the operation of various mechanical devices such as watermills. As a result, it lead people from one idea to another until they have decided to try using water to generate electricity. This new discovery lead to a success. To promote this new idea, people started building dams across the country to help them store water in order for the generation to take place. Of course, with the help of the water cycle, the discoverers of the water electricity generators lead into finding one of nature’s engines to create a useful form of energy. As known by many people in these new generations, electricity can be reproduced using many methods with the help of natural resources, wind, solar system, and fossil fuels. One which in fact is used by numerous countries is the hydro power.

Hydro-power or water power is power derived from energy of falling water and running water which could be harnessed for useful purposes. There are three main methods for generating hydroelectricity. Firstly, storage, where a dam collects water in a reservoir then it is release it to drive turbines, producing electricity. Secondly, pumped storage, where water is pumped to a higher reservoir releasing it to a lower reservoir. Thirdly, run of river, known as the most popular method, where the natural flow of a river or stream is used to drive a turbine.

As mentioned previously, water supply is used by many people to accomplish many aspects on a regular basis. Looking back, thousands of years ago, Greeks would account f...

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...ic power plants produces less greenhouse gas emissions when compared to other power plants. On the other hand, the construction of a dam affects the eco-system of the river and surrounding area. Therefore, some species of fish cannot increase their population because of them. Although hydroelectric dams have considerably fewer emissions than thermal power plants, the blocked water in the dam does cause the release of methane into the atmosphere.

The use of water is infinite. One new idea lead to other ideas until some engineers came up with using water to generate electricity. Even though it was discovered and used thousands of years ago for simpler things, the idea was enlarged by some people and used in a way that could help both, people and the environment. Now, dams are built everywhere because it is known as one of the best ideas to generate electricity.