Hydroelectricity Facts for Kids
Water has provided power for human endeavors for hundreds of years. By adding turbines and generators to mechanical technology, water can produce electricity that can be used in homes and businesses. Hydroelectric power is clean energy that has a low environmental impact, but it isn't perfect. The places where it can be used are limited, and it does change the environment and types of habitat available to wildlife and humans.
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Water for Power
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Humans long have harnessed water power by placing paddle wheels in moving streams of water. They learned quickly that the power and availability of the water could be increased by building dams to create mill ponds that would hold water for dry times. The paddle wheels turned gears that could turn grinding stones, which could be used to make flour and to run mechanical machines, such as weaving looms. When Edison invented the electric light bulb, a need for electricity was developed.
Early Hydroelectric Plants
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The first hydroelectric plant was created at Niagara Falls in 1895. It used Tesla generators, which produced alternating current, the type of electricity used to power homes and businesses today. Hydroelectricity is created when water turns a paddle wheel or turbine, which then can turn a shaft that turns the generator to produce electricity. Although hydroelectric power still is produced at Niagara, the old power plant no longer is in use. It is listed as a National Monument.
Modern Hydroelectricity
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Modern hydroelectric plants often are housed in large dams. The dams hold back acres of water. The water is released in controlled amounts to flow over the turbines. The turbines turn shafts, which turn the generators to make electricity. By planning the amount of water released, and when it is released, the amount of electricity created is matched to the amount of electrical consumption needed at various times of day. Hydroelectric plants do not use fossil fuels or have long-term waste products, making them a clean source of energy.
A Few Disadvantages
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Although hydroelectricity has a low ecological impact, there are some good reasons why it is used to produce less than 10% of the world's power needs. Producing hydroelectricity requires a reliable source of water to turn the turbines, and often involves building large dams that can flood habitat or settled areas. It can interrupt normal fish migration, and can change the temperature and water availability in nearby areas. In the United States, most of the ideal places for hydroelectric plants already are being used to make electricity.
Technological Aids
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Technologists are working to solve the problems with hydroelectric power. They have devised things like fish stairs to help migratory fish make their usual journeys upstream past the dams. Some hydroelectric sites pump water into a holding tank so that it can be released later. Inventors also are working on more efficient turbines and generators that will boost the amount of power produced by existing electrical plants. These micro turbines might even allow smaller electrical generating plants to be built to power small communities, relieving the strain on the big electrical plants.
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