lift and water begins to rush through It careens into the plant The water crashes into turbines making the blades spin Generators turn this spinning motion into electricity In seconds this electricity is ready to make the city’s air conditioners hum They will run on hydroelectric power Hydro is Greek for water Hydroelectric plants convert the energy of falling water into electricity They use water from rivers and streams Hydroelectricity does not pollute the environment It is a clean reliable way to generate electricity Fueling Our Lives Before the 1700s taking advantage of flowing water was the only way to do work without human or animal power People used water mills to grind grains and do other simple tasks In the late 1700s the industrial revolution saw the invention of the steam engine The world began to use fossil fuels such as oil coal and natural gas to power these engines 6
Steam engines powered the industrial revolution 7
Fossil fuels are found underground They must be brought up Digging or pumping for these fuels can harm the environment Then they must be burned to make electricity Burning them sends harmful gases into the air These gases cause climate change the gradual warming of the planet over time Additionally a limited amount of these fuels is available Eventually they will run out For these reasons people are looking to alternative energy sources that are clean and renewable Hydroelectricity is one of these sources Hydroelectric power is used more than any other alternative energy source In 2015 hydropower provided approximately 6 percent of all the electricity used Energy Sources In 2015 approximately 67 percent of the United States electricity came from fossil fuels Almost all of this was from coal and natural gas Approximately 20 percent of the nation’s power came from nuclear power plants The remaining 13 percent came from various alternative energy sources These included hydropower solar power and wind power 8
in the United States It is a reliable source of energy It works on calm days when wind power doesn’t work It works on cloudy days when solar power can’t work Reservoirs store water for later use similar to the way a battery stores power Workers at hydroelectric plants can release this water into the turbines to quickly produce more electricity Waterpower can be generated on rivers in big cities It can also bring inexpensive electricity to remote places It can make life better for people in rural areas The Power Grid Electricity travels on wires from power plants to homes Some wires are aboveground Others are buried underground Together all these wires make up the power grid Power plants feed electricity into the grid The grid allows hydropower to back up other types of power plants When more electricity is needed extra hydropower can be fed into the grid Hydropower reservoirs have many other uses The artificial lakes provide a place to enjoy water sports 9
