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HydroElectricity - THE BOTTOM LINE

RangerDanger90

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I would like to personally address everyone that I am always willing to be enlightened to the enlightener. If you do not like what I post, then merely communicate with me using logic, analysis, and communication. =) I am always willing to see and entertain different points of view =)

Ok, I have done my fair share of hydroelectricity, but people in my classes keep on saying that hydroelectricity is efficient and that stupid people in government are preventing it! BLAME THE GOVERNMENT they cry!

I would like to debunk the first clause: "Hydroelectric is efficient."

Hydroelectric is efficient, very efficient, something like 88 to 95 percent (compared to simple internal gas cumbustion engines at around 25 percent efficiency)!
However, the amount of energy produced is relatively low, compared to the cost of economics put into it.

In other words, Hydroelectricity is efficient at converting potential energy into mechanical into electric energy, however, it does not produce a massive bucket of electricity in comparison to unit energy per unit monetary value (Energy/$$$).

In addition to prove this, I would like to bring up the fact that 50% of the potential hydroelectricity capacity of the U.S. has already been developed =...( Right now, the total BTUS (British Thermal Units Plural) of hydropower produces is 1 QBTU. That is a quad BTU.

The US consumes 98.6 BTUs per year!
With 50% of the US's hydroelectric power being already developed, the max power available from hydroelectric power is 2 QBTUs!

2/98.6 is 2.0283 percent of the US's power! That includes the max power available!
Factors not to forget: As time goes on, population increases - therefore energy demands increases.

2 QBTUs is the max for hydroelectric power and will remain constant while energy demands rise, therefore, we must milk this stuff for what it is and get the most out of it!
Few other reasons why hydroelectric power is limited:

Between 1918 and 1958, there were 33 dams that failed – 1680 deaths.
Average of 42 dams a year break.
100,000 people alone in U.S. are at risk
Disturbing of natural habitats for indigenous species

Many hydroelectric instillations have lifetimes of up to 50 to 200 years because of their storage volumes
These storage volumes become filled with silt – no good solution in sight.
Otherwise, these plants would live on much longer.

MAIN REASON WHY HYDRO ELECTRICITY IS NOT ABUNDANT -
***********************************************
IT IS NOT ECONOMICALLY FEASIBLE!!!!!

So you can tell your classmates! IT IS NOT ECONOMICALLY FEASIBLE AND IF THEY ARE WILLING TO COUGH UP THE EXTRA COFFERS, THEN THEY CAN DO IT!!!

:doh
 
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There is also the occasional problem of needing flowing water....
 
Between 1918 and 1958, there were 33 dams that failed – 1680 deaths.
Average of 42 dams a year break.
100,000 people alone in U.S. are at risk
Disturbing of natural habitats for indigenous species

And US nuclear power has killed....?
 
In addition to prove this, I would like to bring up the fact that 50% of the potential hydroelectricity capacity of the U.S. has already been developed =...( Right now, the total BTUS (British Thermal Units Plural) of hydropower produces is 1 QBTU. That is a quad BTU.

how do you come by this calculation?
 
Interestingly, hydro has one of the highest energy payback ratios available (energy produced over energy consumed in order to produce) around 240, which is staggering as solar barely comes in at around 30, oil from the Alberta oil sands comes in at around .5ish (very bad). I have the link to the study that gives the complete story, i will post it when i find it.

A problem with Hydroelectric is penetration, in the sense that there are a limited amount of locations were it can be implemented, as a result raising costs. Obviously environmental, and glaring sustainability problems (development wise), which are completely valid, stand in the way as well.

To the criticism of hydroelectrics share of the energy market (another way of saying penetration) as being to small, I think there are several factors that need to be addressed. 2% by the way is huge for a renewable resource, by far the biggest existing in the US. But, criticizing a technology for its lack of a substantial market share is ignoring that america's energy needs will not be met, and shouldn't be by a single silver bullet, a combination of technologies is the future. This one shoe fits all mentality is a huge ideological defect in our country energy wise, and in many ways is a reflection of the inherent flaws in our energy infrastructure today.
 
does tidal energy systems count as hydro electric, because it seems we got a lot of dat
 
Is anyone even under the impression that hydroelectric power is viable as even part of the solution?

Aside from the inefficiencies of hydroelectric power one must also take into account the massive - and normally devastating - effects hydroelectric power plants have on the environment.
 
Aside from the inefficiencies of hydroelectric power one must also take into account the massive - and normally devastating - effects hydroelectric power plants have on the environment.
Oh noes, couldn't trade a valley for a lake, or the whole world balance might fly off its rotational axis and crash into mars . . . . :roll:

Grow up. Nature makes lakes behind landslides all the time.
 
Voidwar said:
Was yours ? Do you think damming a waterway and creating a lake haven't happened a bajillion times on Earth before the advent of Man ??

Glacial Lake Missoula and the Ice Age Floods

Of course it's happened, but I can't even take you seriously when you attempt to claim that because it happens naturally that doing it on a much greater scale has the same effect.
 
Of course it's happened, but I can't even take you seriously when you attempt to claim that because it happens naturally that doing it on a much greater scale has the same effect.

Greater scale ? Did you even read the link ? Hoover Dam is 724 feet, the glacial lake wall was 2000 feet tall.

Why would anyone take you seriously ? What is the negative environmental effect of a spring-fed freshwater lake again ? ? ?
 
Voidwar said:
Greater scale ?

You apparently misunderstood me.

There are an estimated 74,993 dams in America, blocking 600,000 miles of what had once been free flowing rivers, nearly one dam built for each day since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. That’s about 17 percent of all rivers in the nation. Dams now block almost every major river system in the West.

Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations
 
. . . and how many lakes ?

What do you think makes a lake ?

"blocked" ? prove navigability in the first place or show relevance.
 
Voidwar said:
. . . and how many lakes ?

What do you think makes a lake ?

Are you seriously having this much trouble understanding my point? Here, let me emphasize it yet again:

There are an estimated 74,993 dams in America, blocking 600,000 miles of what had once been free flowing rivers, nearly one dam built for each day since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. That’s about 17 percent of all rivers in the nation. Dams now block almost every major river system in the West.

Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations
 
Are you seriously having this much trouble understanding my point? Here, let me emphasize it yet again:

I understand exactly what you are saying, but you don't have much of a point. Do you know how many lakes came into existance and dried up over the same 233 years ?

I am damn glad we have built that many dams, just like I am damn glad we have built the roads and bridges all the way across this productive land.

A lake is just as good as a valley, and thus you have no point.

A lake has no environmental impact other than that of a lake, and the hundreds of thousands of existant freshwater lakes belie their being construed as a menace.
 
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Ok, well then could you please provide documentation as to how many rivers have been blocked in the past 233 years due to natural causes? Do you seriously think that this number will be as high as the number of dams built in the same time period?:shock:
 
I don't care. Neither kind of lake is any kind of environmental problem, lakes are nice, so STFU.
 
Voidwar said:
I don't care. Neither kind of lake is any kind of environmental problem, lakes are nice, so STFU.

Well the problem with artificially creating so many lakes in such a short time period is the effect that it has on the environment. Namely, increased evaporation (which increases the temperature and humidity of the surrounding area - including the river downstream of the dam), releases greenhouse gases due to decomposing plant matter that was caused by the flooding, the fragmentation of the eco-system (the most obvious one, as a dam is essentially a wall inside a river), the distribution of sediments (which leads to erosion downstream), and a bunch of other stuff I couldn't think of off the top of my head.

Granted, you are correct in the fact that natural dams are created and riverways blocked, but the difference is that because these are in such a low quantity, they are comparatively insignificant in terms of altering the environment. Which is what my entire point was in the first place.
 
Well the problem with artificially creating so many lakes in such a short time period is the effect that it has on the environment.

Which is a bunch of whole cloth speculation on your part.

Granted, you are correct in the fact that natural dams are created and riverways blocked, but the difference is that because these are in such a low quantity, they are comparatively insignificant in terms of altering the environment. Which is what my entire point was in the first place.

One for One. Completely Significant. When you solve the environmental disaster created by an existant lake, I will allow you to speculate unchallenged about the environmental disaster a manmade one might instigate. :roll:
 
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