Hydropower Advantages - Clean and Reliable Alternative Energy

1. Hydropower is clean. Just look at the picture above. When I look at that picture I see something that is clean. And that is one of the main benefits that hydropower brings to the table.

Hydropower plants do not emit any of the waste gases that contribute to air pollution, acid rain, and global warming. They do not cause noise pollution. No trucks, trains, barges, or pipelines are needed to bring fuel to the power plant site. Very similar to geothermal energy.

2. Renewable Hydropower energy is a renewable resource. it follows the water cycle of evaporation, condensation, precipitation. As long as there is precipitation through rain or snow, there will be water to run the turbines.

3. Hydropower is reliable. As long as there is water, there will be an energy source. As far as the powerplant goes, these are also constructed of a simple design which proves to be reliable over time.

4. Hydropower is extremely efficient. Comparing falling water running through a hydropower plant to fossil fuels burned , the efficiency is almost two to one. Water converted to electricity through hydrpower generation is around 90%. Fossil fuels converted to energy is 50% with the rest lost to waste heat and gases.

Hydroelectric plants tend to have longer lives than fuel-fired generation, with some plants now in service having been built 50 to 100 years ago. Labour cost also tends to be low since plants are generally heavily automated and have few personnel on site during normal operation.

6.Micro-hydro systems are available. Not everyone can have a hydropower plant the size of the one in Niagara Falls as seen below,

Click on the following link to learn more about economic alternative energy resources as well as hydropower advantages.

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Hydroelectricity Disadvantages of Hydropower