Hydro-Electric Dams Are an Environmental Disaster Essay

The article “Down go the dams” by Jane C.Marks aim to provide an informative view on the current pending issue on Dams. The article starts out my mentioning the important nature of dams in our society. For example, Jane C.Marks states that today about 800,000 dams operate worldwide as well as the fact that most were built in the past century, primarily after World War II. Furthermore, the author lays down informative facts about dams such as the fact that dams control flooding and their reservoirs provide a reliable supply of water for irrigation, drinking and recreation which are all very important to society. In an economic standpoint, although it is very high maintenance dams provide jobs for people. The

Moving into the next renewable energy, there is a big advantage that hydroelectric power is that hydropower dams is a huge renewable resource and using water to create electricity has no carbon footprint. As well as there is less pollution from it overall. There are many advantages but there are two distinct disadvantages, one of them being the cost to build an electric power station. The cost

Manitoba Hydro is Manitoba’s major energy utility provider, serving 561,869 electric customers and 274,817 natural gas customers throughout the province (2). Manitoba Hydro provides services that run from exporting electricity worldwide, to providing customers with tips on how to save money on their electricity bills. Hydro provides services such as Power Smart technologies, which help to reduce a client 's energy consumption while reducing their environmental impact. Manitoba Hydro is a large believer in protecting the environment. Environmental protection was seen with their large-scale capital projects such as environmental protection and monitoring programs, climate change initiatives, energy efficiency initiatives, and environmental research and development (2). Manitoba Hydro became a crown corporation in 1961 through the Manitoba Hydro Act; the utility was governed by the Manitoba Hydro-Electric Board (17). Manitoba Hydro controlled the gas and electric consumptions within Manitoba except Winnipeg Hydro. In 2002, an acquisition occurred meaning that Manitoba Hydro now owns Winnipeg Hydro. Today Manitoba Hydro is a major energy utility providing the lowest electricity rates in Canada. We operate 15 hydroelectric facilities on the Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, Burntwood, Laurie and Nelson rivers, two thermal and four diesel generating stations (1).

According to the Center for The Columbia River History, “The Columbia River Basin is the most hydroelectrically developed river system in the world. More than 400 dams, 11 run-of-the-river dams on the mainstem and hundreds of major and modest structures on tributaries block river flows and tap a large portion of the Columbia's generating capacity: more than 21 million kilowatts.” It goes on to say that “Rock Island Dam on the middle river was the first major hydropower producer on the Columbia.” The Rock Island Dam, however, pales in size to the much larger Bonneville and Grand Coulee Dams that the federal government completed in 1938 and 1941. During the 1960's and 1970's the last of the mainstream dams were built on the Columbia. Canada completed the Mica Dam in 1973.

Dam projects can serve many purposes. They compensate for varying amounts of water that nature may send down a river at a given time, or they may serve as a resource to generate hydropower for the local population. The construction of these complicated feats of engineering is an expensive, time consuming task. For whatever reason a dam is built, it will almost always pay for itself in the energy it produces or

Our current state of energy resources are reliable, we use natural gas oil hydro, coal and nuclear power to produce energy. Canada 's current energy resources can be divided into renewable and non-renewable resources. The renewable resources includes hydro, wind, solar, biomass, tidal power. Whereas non-renewable resources include oil, gas, coal and other fossil fuels. Canada 's unique geographic location and its harsh

Canada 's unique geographical location and its harsh weather conditions, requires extra use of energy to keep the houses warm."[Moreover we have to transport goods, to far of places including territories, therefore as a result we use extensive amount of fuel for the transportation purposes]" (Energy, Statistic Canada). "[Per capita consumption of electric power in Canada was 16,473.16 kWh in 2011. In 2010 Canada’s average energy consumption was, 41% from petroleum, 31% from natural gas and 1% consumption from coal]" (Energy, Statistic Canada). We produce about 65 million metric tons of coal each year but, consume 50 percent of it and the remaining is exported to many countries of Asia, including Japan and South Korea (ILC 2007, CGW4UA, U2, L10, P 24). As per Statistic Canada our total consumption of energy was divided as: "34% of the energy was consumed by transportation. Residential and Agricultural sector consumed 20%. Manufacturing 19%, whereas mining, oil and gas extractions consumed 10% of the energy. Moreover 74% of the total energy consumed was in the provinces of Ontario, Alberta and Quebec. Canada produces 3 million barrels of oil, and consumes 2.2 million of it" (Energy, Statistic Canada). The rest is exported to the United States for sale. Furthermore Canada has cross border trade of electricity with the US and it exports "30 billion kWh of electricity" (ILC 2007, CGW4UA, U2, L10, P 25).

New industries and people in their homes made increased demands on hydro power and Canada with its vast river systems soon became the second largest producer of hydro power in the world.

Hoover Dam began to be built during the Great Depression. There were not many jobs because of the economic stand point during the 1930s. The construction of the Hoover Dam created more jobs helping the people receive a job. Even though people received a job, safety was an issue. Some of the safety issues were weather conditions, pneumonia causes, high scalars, and discrimination. Supervisors had a goal to finish the Hoover Dam in record time. The supervisors on the Hoover Dam project were solely responsible for the deaths of the workers because they forced the workers to work in extreme conditions.

The Three Gorges Dam is an unfinished project which will be the largest dam ever constructed on the planet Earth. It is situated in China on the third largest river in the world – the Yangtze. The dam has been debated over since the 1919 and is still a hot topic of debate because of its many pros and cons. In 1994 construction began on the dam, and it is expected to be finished by the year 2009. The massive dimensions of the dam are mind boggling and its functions – if the dam actually works – are truly remarkable; however, with such a large structure also comes difficulties, sacrifices, and cynics. The goal of this essay is to lend an understanding of the dam itself, the prospective benefits of

An important role of them is to generate energy from natural resources, for instance solar thermal. It is a solar water heater that uses the power of the sun to heat water thus reducing the amount of gas or electricity required. In fact, according to Education Scotland, solar power plants in Spain have generated 3 gigawatts of power which represents 2.8% of Spain’s energy needs (Solar – Renewable Energy, 2016). There are many renewable energy technologies that can prevent acid rain, urban smog, pollution and the burning of coal. Canada has improve on its uses of fossil fuel, the uses of renewable energy grew from 2% to 11% (Healing, 2016). Therefore, if using renewable energy sources will give us the luxurious of being able to have electricity, heat our homes, transport, and protect the environment, then why not use it.

Hydroelectric is a form of energy it is a renewable resource. Hydroelectricity is the most important and widely used renewable source of energy. Hydroelectric relies on water, which is clean and renewable energy source. Renewable energy comes from natural resources. Non-Renewable energy source includes coal, oil and natural gas. Water is renewable because water continually recycles itself. To harness energy from flowing water, the water must be controlled; a large reservoir is created, usually by damming a river to create an artificial lake or reservoir. Water is channeled through tunnels in the dam. The energy of water flowing through the dam causes the turbines to turn and make the

“Worldwide, hydropower facilities possess a significant amount of installed electric generating capacity. IEA statistics indicate that at the end of 2001 there was in excess of 450,000 MW of installed capacity within IEA member countries, with about half in Europe and half in North America. In addition to conventional hydropower, there is more than 80,000 MW of installed pumped-hydro capacity in IEA countries. In contrast, utility-scale wind power is relatively new in the electric market, but increasing rapidly” (Integration of Wind and Hydropower Systems)

Hydroelectric power tends to upset the ecosystems in rivers and lakes. It affects the fish and wild life population. Nuclear energy is a very controversial subject. Although it produces high quantities of power with relative efficiency, it is very hard to dispose of the waste. While wind and solar power have no waste products, they require enormous amounts of land

Hydroelectric power plant is one of the major power plants all over the world in order to create electricity. It is also one of the best renewable energy sources on the planet earth. In ranking, Canada is the third largest country to produce hydroelectricity power. The efficiency of this power source is 90% and this is very impressive as the percentage of efficiency is very high. Hydro power plants generate 24% of the world’s electricity. More than 1 billion people are associated with hydro power plants as they use the power supply from hydro power plants.