Why can't those mad sciencists use hydro power to make electricity ?

Question

INSTEAD OF USING COAL & OTHER NON-RENEWABLE SOURCES ; WHY CAN'T WE USE WATER TO MAKE ELECTRICITY?

Answer 1

Well, basically we need a lot of water going through a relatively small space, kinda like Niagara Falls. The water is then redirected and causes the turbines to spin. The spinning turbines generate electricity. This is a fairly green source of energy, but there are problems.

1. Not every city or area has a water system like that, and it's hard to recreate those kind of hydrodynamics.

2. You can't just make the electricity, box it up, and ship it to wherever it needs to go. You need to run it along the power lines and there will be a certain amount of power loss the further you run it. It wouldn't be effective, or cost efficient, to run lines from a hydro plant in say, New York to Miami.

Wind turbines are much more efficient because there will always be wind and the turbines can be constructed anywhere. Nuclear is also a better alternative because, as far as fuels go, it really is the cleanest-burning fuel we have. There are also many "clean coal" technologies now such such as low-nox burners and scrubbers that drastically reduce the amount of pollution pumped out by fossil plants. Unfortunately, the governments of Canada and the States seem unwilling to utilize these new technologies.

Answer 2

As the other answers point out, hydro power is
already used very extensively to generate electricity. There is always a downside to every
method of power generation, however. Damming
rivers in the coastal northwest has greatly reduced
salmon populations, for instance.

Also, what mad scientists? Mad scientists exist
primarily in Hollywood movies and in novels.
Perfectly sane scientists developed methods of
generating electricity from water power long ago.
In any case, even being genuinely insane does
not necessarily prevent a person from doing useful
work. As an example you might read a book
titled The Surgeon of Crowthorne by Simon
Winchester. This was also published under another title, I think The Professor and the Madman.

Answer 3

We do use hydro power. But it has problems as mentioned above. Here is an example.

Remember the California electricity crisis of a few summers ago. There were several reasons for this. But one of the important ones was the lack of hydro power.

California makes only a modest amount of hydro power, but in the high usage summertime, it normally buys a lot of hydro power from Washington state.

However, in that crisis, Washington state didn't have much hydro power & none to sell. Why? Because the summertime hydro power comes from the melting of the previous winter's snow fall, & they didn't have much snow that winter.

Besides, environmentalists hate all forms of electricity generation. Wind power because it kills birds, Hydro power because is submerges large amounts of habitat & kills fish. They haven't complained about PV solar panels yet (it is still extremely expensive), but if it does become popular then they'll complain about habitat destruction again.

Answer 4

What a great idea..
We could build dams and put electric generators in the dams..
Why didn't those mad scientists think of that..
Good thing you brought it up...

Answer 5

I didn't see anyone mention that the environmental permits required are extremely hard to get. Probably more difficult than a nuclear plant.

Answer 6

good point
did you know, we can never waste water? all water does is evaporate and come back, its what we do with the water! so if we pollute fresh water, it will never be drinkable, unless you clean it out of course! but who wants to do that? lol, juss playin

Answer 7

....and all so often, it is not the "mad scientists" who make the decisions what to use, but the "greedy Economists", and people who want everything, cheap, but not in their neighborhood.

Answer 8

Ummm....we do. What do you think the Hoover Dam is for?