Green Oil Pros

Why hasnt hydro power replaced fossil fuels?

December 3rd, 2009 by Discuss this article »

Tiff-Any asked:


Whats holding us back?

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Posted in Hydro Fuel

Tags: Fossil Fuels Hydro Power

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3 Responses Add your own

1. lunatic says:

   December 5, 2009 at 8:26 am

   Hydroelectric power harnesses the energy of water dropping from one elevation to a lower elevation and converts it into electrical power. The elevation drop is produced by damming up the water in a suitable river. This process has an enormous ecological impact on both the upstream and downstream side of the dam. People own property on both sides of the river and would have to be relocated.

   There are not enough suitable locations to build even a small percentage of the dams necessary to replace fossil fuel power plants.
2. Gary B says:

   December 6, 2009 at 7:16 pm

   Locations suitable for hydro power are not plentiful.
   Hydro-power is simply NOT efficient in the flat lands of the great Plains in Central United States.

   Hydro power needs a supply of rather steeply falling water supply. that implies mountain rivers, which means that hydro power is only efficient in the Rockies and Applachian mountains — West and East. but no good in the cental plains.

   And of course, when a suitable stream is located, it must be dammed up to further build up a long-term source of water pressure, to account for normal periods of low precipitation. that means THOUSANDS of square miles of (usually forrested) land will be covered with water, and MILLIONS of animals will be displaced or die. The true eco-conservationist doesn’t want THAT, so conservationists generally lobby againist hydro power.

   Finally, all those dams and generators and control gates and such cost a LOT more than fossil fuel drilling. The start up costs for hydro power are HUGE, which means that the per-kilowatt costs for hydro power is more expensive than fossil fuels, at least for the first 10-20 years after the hydro plant is built.

   End Result: Too expensive and inefficient to be really useful, except in very isolated parts of the country {like Lake Mead near LasVegas)
3. ngc7331 says:

   December 10, 2009 at 12:38 am

   Because it’s difficult to get a dam constructed on your car and still be able to hold back billions of deciliters of water and generate a city’s worth of electricity.

   I hope this helps. Good luck.