Hydropower The First Clean Energy

In 1950 hydropower produced 360 billion kilowatts of power. In 2018 it produced less than 100 billion kilowatts of power.

What Happened?

The short answer is Big Energy and Big Oil

The availabilty of other alternative energies played a small role, but cheaper coal or the so called "clean coal" (sorry their is no such thing), and the offshore drilling and fracking that is taking place. P.S. None but the alternative energy is good for the environment.

We have the ability to increase our hydro-electric power capabilities. Everyone is griping about rebuilding our infrastructure and that is a good place to start. We can retrofit almost 50 more dams in this country to produce hydro-electricity. This is a small price to pay for the use of a renewable energy source like hydropower. None of the environmentalists can complain because the dams already exist. Hydropower was the first real alternative and clean energy.

Hydropower: An Intricate Part Of Our Energy Future

If we can truelly move forward with a green energy plan hydropower must be a part of the equation

Hydro-electric power generation began as the answer to our energy needs and we went all out to build hydro-electric dams such as Hoover Dam (reservoir dam) that produces 2,080 MW of power and Grand Coulee Dam which is 95.4% reservoir and 4.6% (pumped storage) and produces 6,809 MW of power which makes it the leader,John Day Dam (Run Of The River) produces 2,160MW of power. This is a short list of dams in the West. On the East coast we have the Robert Moses Dam in Niagara (Reservoir Dam) producing 2,675 MW of power, Bath County in Virginia (pumped storage) producing 3,003 MW of power and Racoon Mountain in Tennesee (pumped storage) producing 1,616 MW of power. Also a short list of eastern hydro=electric dams. For a more complete list of the biggest hydro-electric dams Click Here.

The U.S has about 80,00 unpowered dams that could add another 45 TWhr/yr. Environmental concerns slowed the progress of adding additional hydro-electric dams and saw some of the dams converted to fish ladders. The fact remains that we have the capacity to produce as much as 28% or more of our energy needs from hydro alone we currently produce about 8%. Better utilization of this amazing resource is vital to achieving a renewable energy future.

Hydronaturals® is a strong advocate of increasing our hydro-electricity capacity. Studies have shown that we can do so with little or no environmental impact. We certainly know that the environmental impact of burning fossil fuel is higher. If you would like to get more involved in the green energy environment then We are also conducting a survey about what people believe to be the best alternative resource. If you want to take part in this survey then Follow This Link If you would like to learn more about what constitutes energy and how it is all around us