Questions I needed to research to conduct information on Hydropower:
- How does Hydropower generate renewable and useful energy?
- What are the positive and negative effects of Hydropower on our environment?
- What is the history of Hydropower and how has it impacted the way we produce and use renewable energy?
- How do Hydropower systems and dams impact climate change in our world?
- What are some reliable solutions for improving Hydropower reservoirs and the quality of dams
Information I collected from reliable sources to find full answers to my questions:
How does Hydropower generate renewable and useful energy:
Hydropower is powered by hydroelectricity, which is produced through a fascinating process first beginning at the water cycle, which provides water in the form of rainfall and runoff from snow. The supply of water from the rain and snow accumulates in bodies of water such as; lakes, rivers, streams, and then proceeds to flow to dams that were built downstream. The water then is guided by a funnel through the dam, into a powerhouse. The force of the water than turns a big wheel known as a turbine. The turbine when in motion turns a shaft which is in charge of rotating a collection of magnets past copper coils (type of conductor), in a generator to then successfully create electricity. After the cycle is complete the water goes back to the river or body of water it came from. From the powerhouse near the dam, transmission lines are used to carry the new electricity to communities and homes.
What are the positive and negative effects of Hydropower on our environment:
List of pros for using Hydropower to produce electricity:
- Hydroelectricity is a source of energy that is renewable since it uses the energy from running water, without decreasing the quantity of water as it travels back to rivers once electricity is produced.
- By using Hydropower we have the opportunity to make use of other renewable power sources. Hydropower is so reliable and successful that it promotes the use of other renewable energy sources. Such as solar energy, and wind energy.
- Hydroelectricity is free of charge for consumers and assures reliable energy. Water from rivers, streams, and lakes is a resource that cannot be sold, unlike natural and fuel.
- Hydroelectricity promotes and helps the cause of climate change. The cycle of turning water into electricity creates very small amounts of greenhouse gases that are harmful to our environment.
- Hydroelectricity has the ability to improve the air we breathe in. Hydropower power plants don’t release greenhouse gases and pollutants into our air, and hydroelectricity doesn’t cause the making of toxic by products.
List of cons for using Hydropower to produce electricity:
- Hydropower does have some serious and harmful impacts on our environment. Hydropower sites can influence animal habitats, ecosystems, homes, and land near the dam area. Hydropower reservoirs may be on natural habitats, important farmland, historical sites, and people’s homes.
- Building a dam and hydropower reservoir to produce hydroelectricity can take lots of money, construction, time, and most of the acceptable places to build reservoirs and hydro plants have been built on already.
- Hydroelectricity heavily depends on the water cycle and amount of rainfall and snowfall per year. The less precipitation an area receives the less electricity from hydropower is produced.
- Hydropower can destroy wildlife habitats. Which can cause a decrease in animal population and disrupt fish cycles and passages.
- Hydropower reservoirs can be the root of the freshness of stream water. Using Hydropower power can change the temperature and the flow of the water in the river. These alterations can cause harm to the plants and animals near the dam.
The history of fundamental Hydropower technology:
The first set of technology that was used to utilize falling water and produce hydroelectricity goes back over 2,000 years ago, when Greeks created water wheels in order to grind grain. It wasn’t until the Middle Ages that this technology (Water Wheels) was spread throughout Europe. Hydroelectricity was also crucial during the Industrial Revolution, at the beginning of the 1800’s as it supplied mechanical power for machine and textile manufactures. The most crucial time for advancement of hydropower was in 1831, when Michael Faraday invented the first electric generator. This developed the base for us to research and gain knowledge on generating reliable electricity with hydropower near half a century later. The very first hydroelectric power plant was created in Applewood, Wisconsin in 1882. Since then the use of Hydropower and building of reservoirs increased, especially during the 19th century. Becoming one of the most world’s successful renewable energy source. The construction of Hydropower reservoirs and its ability to generate new renewable energy to provide electricity to communities and home has impacted the way we use and utilize renewable energy sources because the success and benefits of Hydropower has sparked new ideas and change for a clean, green world. Since Hydropower has worked so well as a reliable energy source, it has inspired the planning and development of more devices to create reliable electricity without using harmful machines and ways (fossil fuels, fracking) to forcefully extract power out of the earth.
How do Hydropower systems and dams impact climate change in our world?
Hydropower is the reason for 70% of our entire world’s renewable energy generation quantity. Hydropower is an incredible renewable energy source that reduces climate change, but it can also have harmful effects on wildlife and our environment. For example, Hydropower replaces the use of burning fossil fuels for electricity, which in turn contributes to preventing the use of greenhouse gas from being burnt and emitted into our atmosphere. Hydropower is a resourceful and intelligent way to generate electricity without releasing greenhouse gases into our atmosphere which sufficiently aids the climate change cause. While on the other hand Hydropower plants are most likely affecting the altering rainfall patterns which causes the flow of rivers to reduce. The construction of Hydropower, does also come with environmental consequences. Including the cutting down of trees (deforestation), which therefore means that those trees aren’t there to take in the carbon dioxide from the air. Marine life is also impacted as the marine ecosystem suffers from the changes in water temperature and the reduction of the rivers flow. The marine animals fall out of their daily cycles and have trouble finding sources of food.
Reliable Solutions for improving Hydropower Reservoirs and the quality of Dams:
In order to to improve the performance of Hydropower I believe that we should instead focus on improving the quality and decreasing the harmful effects of current Hydropower plants. I believe that we can take steps to improving hydroelectricity by following this steps I researched on and inserted my own thoughts and ideas into….
- Lots of the dams we use for Hydroelectricity production were built decades ago and because so, several of these dams use outdated and infective equipment to generate the electricity. Quality of dams should be improved and brought up to current standards, so it can be guaranteed that that the generator is producing all the electricity that it can from each drop of water used.
- There are thousands of dams around our world that don’t have the ability to produce Hydroelectricity, (don’t have Hydropower ability). Hydropower systems should be added to more dams in good working condition. This way new dams don’t have to built which results in less trees being cut down and natural habitats being demolished.
- Tons of Hydropower reservoirs are in desperate need of crucial repairs. We need to work on making those fixes and thoroughly checking on the reservoirs to make sure there in well working condition and are safe to the environment surrounding the dams. The dams that aren’t functioning properly should be improved right away or in the worst case removed, this way they aren’t a hazard to the environment and inhabitants living there.
- Instead of focusing on and spending money on generating electricity from burning fossil fuels and nuclear reaction we should be working on improving Hydropower technology and finding more sources/ways we can produce renewable energy. Hydropower has so much potential and if we spent more time researching and funding designs and ideas to improve the system we could produce more safe renewable energy and reduce greenhouse gases, helping the climate change cause.
- If we build new Hydropower reservoirs, we need to carefully plan out the perfect location, so natural habitats, communities, agricultural areas, and ecosystems are not demolished in the construction process.
Information Fluency Reflection
What new or familiar digital tools did you try to use as you worked through this project?
For my project on “Hydropower” I used new and familiar digital tools such as reliable websites that I have found resourceful before like: World Book Student Online, Britannica, and National Geographic. I also experimented with some new websites such as: Water Power Canada, Gale Engage Learning, Web Library, Learn360, IEA Hydropower, and Google Scholar. I found this tools very informative and detailed.
What was the process you used to investigate the topic?
For my project I experimented using the Information Fluency procedure to investigate my topic…
ASK – completing a detailed list of critical thinking questions about what I’m wondering about my topic.
ACQUIRE – researching and obtaining detailed information from reliable digital sources
ANALYZE – organizing and sorting through the information making sure its factual and makes sense in the context.
APPLY – the information then should be realistically applied within the context of the initial purpose.
ASSESS – this is the last step of the information fluency project and involves communication about how this problem-solving process could have been more productive and effective.
I found that this comprehensive and detailed process worked extremely well as my research on my topic was more informative, factual and organized. I gained a lot of knowledge and understanding from this process on asking detailed questions, using reliable digital technology, gathering factual, true information, properly sorting/organizing your info, and assessing my thought process using my personal awareness and communication skills.
How did you verify and cite the information found?
I verified and cited the information I found by…
Step 1: I first determined the credibility of my information by recognizing the source. By researching the writer’s name or the organization that produced the information from the website. Is the organization well-known for being reliable? Is the author respected and non biased?
Step 2: I compared and contrasted the information given in the source with other reliable sources on the same topic. Doing this I can check my data and facts in a new source with trusted sources I know are dependable and trustworthy, school recommended and university sites.
Step 3: Read over all the information in the source to determine if the information is truly shown in a unbiased, factual, and reasonable way. I tried to look if the author/organization was biased in their information presented and see if they made broad claims or assumptions. Is the info is an opinion or fact.
I cited my information in bibliography format, using MLA style. I did this by going onto reliable sources such as BibMe and EasyBib that were recommended to me from my wise teachers last year. Using these dependable websites I can successfully create a great bibliography using the correct format and properly giving credit to the authors and organization of the websites.
How did the process of completing this project go? What could you have done better?
I believe that the process of completing this project went excellently. I gained an entirely new understanding of gathering good quality data and processing information from this structured process. I will now use this procedure in future projects to gather, sort, and cite, through information to get the best results and gain more factual knowledge about my topic. I believe that during this project I could have found more reliable sources to use. I found that I stuck to the cites I knew and felt the most secure with, instead of broadening my knowledge, and researching new sites that may have new data, studies, and research available. I also believe that I could have organized and sorted through my information better. During this project, I read through the website and than recorded notes in point form on my notepad, and than after I put those ideas into my own words and answered my questions with description and detail. I found though that since I had taken lots of notes, they were a little messy and jumbled and it made it very difficult to sort thorough and organize all my information into concise paragraphs. So, my goal for new projects I may have in the future is to be more organized with my info and have a planned out idea of how I want to sort out all my ideas and thought process. Until than I will continue to work on the analyzing phase of the solution fluency procedure.
Bibliography (MLA format)
“Benefits of Hydropower.” Energy.gov, https://www.energy.gov/eere/water/benefits-hydropower.
Berga, Luis. “The Role of Hydropower in Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation: A Review.” Engineering, Elsevier, 8 Nov. 2016, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S209580991631164X.
“Can You Make Electricity with Water?” Wonderopolis, https://www.wonderopolis.org/wonder/can-you-make-electricity-with-water.
Carreau, Michel, et al. “Waterpower.” Hatch Waterpower – Hydropower, https://www.hatch.com/en/Expertise/Energy/WaterPower.
Deutsche Welle. “Hydropower Supply Dries up with Climate Change: DW: 01.03.2018.” DW.COM, https://www.dw.com/en/hydropower-supply-dries-up-with-climate-change/a-42472070.
“Fast Facts.” Ontario Waterpower Association, https://www.owa.ca/education/fast-facts/.
“Frequently Asked Questions.” IEA Hydropower, https://www.ieahydro.org/faq.
“How Hydropower Can Help Climate Action.” UNFCCC, https://unfccc.int/news/how-hydropower-can-help-climate-action.
“How It Works: Water for Electricity.” Union of Concerned Scientists, https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/how-it-works-water-electricity.
“Hydropower and Climate Change.” American Rivers, https://www.americanrivers.org/threats-solutions/energy-development/hydropower-climate-change/.
Nunez, Christina. “Hydropower, Explained.” Hydropower Facts and Information, 13 May 2019, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/hydropower/.
“Solution Fluency.” Global Digital Citizen Foundation, https://globaldigitalcitizen.org/21st-century-fluencies/solution-fluency.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Waterpower.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 18 Nov. 2019, https://www.britannica.com/science/waterpower.
“The History of Hydroelectric Power.” Energy Informative, https://energyinformative.org/the-history-of-hydroelectric-power/.
“Water Energy.” EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, https://archive.epa.gov/climatechange/kids/solutions/technologies/water.html.