What kind of energy is moving water

In an impoundment facility, a dam is used to control the flow of water stored in a pool or reservoir. When more energy is needed, water is released from the dam.

Once water is released, gravity takes over and the water flows downward through a turbine. As the blades of the turbine spin, they power a generator. Another type of hydroelectric energy plant is a diversion facility. This type of plant is unique because it does not use a dam.

Instead, it uses a series of canals to channel flowing river water toward the generator-powering turbines. The third type of plant is called a pumped-storage facility. This plant collects the energy produced from solar, wind, and nuclear power and stores it for future use. The plant stores energy by pumping water uphill from a pool at a lower elevation to a reservoir located at a higher elevation. When there is high demand for electricity, water located in the higher pool is released.

As this water flows back down to the lower reservoir, it turns a turbine to generate more electricity. Hydroelectric energy is the most commonly-used renewable source of electricity. China is the largest producer of hydroelectricity. Approximately 71 percent of all of the renewable electricity generated on Earth is from hydropower.

The Three Gorges Dam in China, which holds back the Yangtze River, is the largest hydroelectric dam in the world, in terms of electricity production. The Hetch Hetchy Reservoir is still a controversial project.

Many people believe the OShaughnessy Dam should be destroyed and the valley returned to its native habitat. Others contend that destroying a source of energy for such a major urban area would reduce the quality of life for residents of the Bay Area. There are limits to the amount of hydroelectric energy a dam can provide.

The most limiting factor is silt that builds up on the reservoirs bed. This silt is carried by the flowing river, but prevented from reaching its normal destination in a delta or river mouth by the dam. Hundreds of meters of silt build up on the bottom of the reservoir, reducing the amount of water in the facility. Less water means less powerful energy to flow through the systems turbines. Most dams must spend a considerable amount of money to avoid silt build-up, a process called siltation.

Some power plants can only provide electricity for 20 or 30 years because of siltation. Hydroelectric Energy and People Billions of people depend on hydroelectricity every day. It powers homes, offices, factories, hospitals, and schools. Hydroelectric energy is usually one of the first methods a developing country uses to bring affordable electricity to rural area s.

Hydroelectricity helps improve the hygiene , education, and employment opportunities available to a community. China and India, for instance, have built dozen s of dams over the past decade, as their development has quickly grown.

The United States depended on hydroelectric energy to bring electricity to many rural or poor areas. Most of this construction took place during the s. Dams were a huge part of the New Deal , a series of government programs that put people to work and brought electricity to millions of Americans during the Great Depression. Today, the TVA is the largest public power company in the U. However, hydroelectricity often comes at a human cost.

The huge dams required for hydroelectric energy projects create reservoirs that flood entire valleys. Homes, communities, and towns may be relocated as dam construction begins. Egypt began construction of the Aswan Dam complex on the Nile River in Engineers realized that ancient temple s of Abu Simbel were going to be flooded by the reservoir, called Lake Nasser.

These monuments were built directly into cliff s several stories tall. The Abu Simbel temples are a part of Egypts cultural heritage and a major tourist destination.

Rather than have the monuments flooded, the government of Egypt relocate d the entire mountainside to an artificial hill nearby. Today, Abu Simbel sits above the Aswan Dam. Chinas massive Three Gorges Dam project will bring safe, affordable electricity to millions of people. It will allow hospitals, schools, and factories to work longer, more reliable hours. It will also allow people to maintain healthier lifestyles by providing clean water.

Construction of the dam directly benefited workers, too. More than a quarter of a million people have found work with the project. However, the project has forced more than a million people to relocate.

Lifestyles were disrupted. Many families were relocated from rural towns on the banks of the Yangtze River to Chongqing, a major urban area with 31 million residents. Other people were relocated out of the province entirely.

Hoover Dam The Hoover Dam was built during the Great Depression, a period when most people had little money and jobs were very scarce. Building the dam seemed like an impossible task. Many people said it could not be built. Workers labored long, hard days for two years, building tunnels that are 15 meters 50 feet widebig enough to fit a commercial airplane without its wings.

Building the dam gave hope and dignity to many victims of the Great Depression. We usually send no more than 10 mails a year and only for targetted communication. Donations can be made by various means, depending if they are made by a company or by individuals. Water: energy from moving water. Copyrights All videos, quizzes, animations and photos are copyrighted to the IPF or to their authors. Gravity causes it to fall through the penstock. The Three Gorges Dam is the world's largest power.

Tephra-laden water filtering through the turbines has necessitated the replacement of four turbines in 21 years.

The Agoyan Dam and its orange floodgates are designed to let highly turbid water bypass the turbines so as to avoid accelerated wear of generation components. Skip to main content. Search Search. Water Science School. Hydroelectric Power: How it Works. Hydroelectric Power: How it works. Get water-use data. Water Use Information by Topic Learn more. Falling water produces hydroelectric power. Credit: Tennessee Valley Authority. Diagram of a hydroelectric turbine and generator.

Credit: U. Army Corps of Engineers. Pumped storage: Reusing water for peak electricity demand. Below are science topics related to hydroelectric power water use.

Date published: August 30, Filter Total Items: 3.