Hydroelectricity is electricity generated from moving water. Because of this, hydroelectricity seems to be the best form of power, after all, water is the main factor making the energy. But, before we make assumptions, let’s learn more about hydroelectricity.
Well, first of all, hydroelectricity is a common renewable natural resource in North America making this form of electricity very accessible to everyone because all you need to do is to get flowing water to go through a dam and spin a turbine or wheel that is connected to a generator to make power. Hydroelectricity also has no waste, unlike nuclear energy which is very clean when at work but has very toxic waste that needs to be disposed of somewhere. Hydroelectricity does not have this issue.
This source of power can be very useful for countries or cities that get significant amounts of rainfall since these places will always have a lot of water to spare and they can put all that potential energy to use. If they are successful, each home in the city can even possibly be powered by hydroelectricity alone. However, hydroelectric reservoirs (the space for water) do need a lot of space in order for the water to have a place to flow in and this takes up a lot of land. In the process of constructing the spaces, forests and wildlife habitats often get destroyed. When the Three Gorges Hydroelectric Dam in China wanted to expand their space, entire communities had to be relocated to make way for reservoirs and this is not the first time this occurred, many villages around the world had to relocate and many habitats were
demolished because of dams being constructed or expanded. This is not good for the future of the Earth.
Hydroelectricity also is unable to be used in dry countries such as Ethiopia or Afghanistan since these countries typically have a warm climate and many drought seasons which means that they would have less water therefore, the hydroelectricity power option for these countries would not work in some seasons. But, on the other hand, hydroelectricity can be a very reliable backup when major power outages happen because all you need to keep the energy going is flowing water and working generators plus, hydropower is affordable in North America – we do have a lot of water to use for this cause! So, those are all of my thoughts on hydroelectricity and personally, I think that it is the cleanest possible source
of energy since the main factor making the energy is water and that is a natural resource. What do you think?
Should hydroelectricity be more widely used? Is hydroelectricity the future?
