Welcome to Hydro Power

how hydro power works  -  hydro power applications  -  hydro power history

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What exactly is Hydro Power? 

If you have ever gone white water rafting, or seen the sheer destructive power of a flood, you have already witnessed the amazing force that can be created with a tremendous volume of water.

Hydropower plants harness this force and convert the energy into electricity through the use of simple mechanics. Hydropower plants are actually based on a rather simple concept -- water flowing through a dam turns a turbine, which turns a generator, much like the way that wind turbines harness the flow of air.

Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is a form of hydropower that uses the energy created by falling water, downhill-flowing water, or energy from wave-differences under the effect of gravitational forces. The distance that water falls from its source point to its flow point (called head) is important in determining the energy produced. The head is directly proportional to the potential energy of hydropower.

Around the globe, hydroelectricity provides roughly 24 percent of the world's power and supplies electricity to more than 1 billion people. According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the U.S., the world's hydropower plants output a combined total of 675,000 megawatts, the energy equivalent of 3.6 billion barrels of oil. Aside from the countries that rely largely on hydro due to their abundance of resources needed for it, other places usually depend on hydroelectricity for peak-load demand applications, because of the ease with which it can be stopped and started.

TheFreeDictionary.com

Hydroelectricity in brief as described by this amazing site that serves as English, Medical, Legal, and Computer Dictionaries, Thesaurus, Encyclopedia, a Literature Reference Library, and a Search Engine all in one.
url: http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Hydro+power

HowStuffWorks.com - Hydro Power

Hydro electricity is tackled by the team at this recognized site for clear, reliable explanations of how everything around us actually works.
url: http://people.howstuffworks.com/hydropower-plant.htm

Canadian Renewable Energy Network (A Division of Natural Resources Canada)

CanRen offers general information on renewable energy sources, highlights the technologies and applications being developed to harness these sources, and presents Canadians with the knowledge and support they need to make renewable energy part of their everyday lives.
url: www.canren.gc.ca

BC Hydro

Official website of British Columbia's very own hydroelectric power provider. Check out their "Environment" and "PowerSmart" sections!
url: www.bchydro.com

COMMON AND RELEVANT KEYWORD DEFENITIONS PERTAINING TO HYDRO POWER:

Irrigation - To supply dry land with water by means of ditches, pipes, or streams; water artificially.

Penstock - A pipe or conduit used to carry water to a water wheel or turbine.

Turbine - Any of various machines in which the kinetic energy of a moving fluid is converted to mechanical power.

Tailraces - The part of a millrace below the water wheel through which the spent water flows.

Thermonuclear - The fusion of atomic nuclei at high temperatures.