From PESWiki

Methods of harnessing water potential and moving water (hydrokinetic) for usable energy.

Contents 1 Major Hydro Listings at PESWiki 2 Technologies 2.1 Vortex 2.2 Dams 2.2.1 Dam Impact 2.2.2 Low Impact Hydro 2.2.2.1 Misc. Low Impact Hydro 2.2.2.2 Pumped Storage 2.2.3 High Impact Hydro 2.3 As a Component in a Non-Nature System 2.3.1 Capillary Action 3 Resources 3.1 In the News 3.2 Directories 4 See also

Major Hydro Listings at PESWiki

• Directory:Low Impact Hydro
  • Directory:River Energy
• Directory:Ocean
  • Directory:Ocean Current
  • Directory:Tidal Power
  • Directory:Ocean Wave Energy
• Directory:Mixing Sea and River Water
• Directory:Capillary Action Engines

Technologies

Vortex

• 
  Featured / Best Exotic FE: Superconductors / Hydro > Nanotech > Vortex Technologies >
  Company "V" claims megawatt free energy generators for sale - A Florida company alleges to have two different types (superconducting and vortex) of MW-level free energy devices for sale (under beta testing terms) at a price that they say competes with the cheapest utility power – without subsidies – while having the added advantage of being green: consuming no fossil fuels and emitting no pollutants or waste. Smaller prototypes can be viewed by qualified parties under NDA. (PESN; January 7, 2011)
  

• Zotloterer Gravitational Vortex Power Plant - Mini-power plant is simple to construct, has a turbine efficiency of 80% but is safe for fish due to low turbine speed. The gravitational vortex hydro technology can be applied with water drop as little as 0.7 meters. The cost for installation of the prototype was close to $1/watt capacity.
  

Dams

Dam Impact

Don't waste the dam methane - Scientists in Brazil have claimed that a major source of greenhouse gas emissions could be curbed by capturing and burning methane given off by large hydro-electric dams. The technology will extract the methane from the water to supplement the energy produced by the dam turbines. (BBC; UK; May 10, 2007)

Low Impact Hydro

See also

• Directory:Low Impact Hydro
• Directory:River Energy

Misc. Low Impact Hydro

• Harvesting Rain Power Via Piezoelectric Landing Pads - Scientists from CEA/Leti-Minatec in France have developed a system that recovers the vibration energy from raindrops falling on a piezoelectric structure. The system works with raindrops ranging in diameter from 1 to 5 mm. Simulations show that it's possible to recover up to 12 milliwatts from one of the larger "downpour" drops.
  

Pumped Storage

• 
  Hydro > Run-of-the-River / Pumped Storage >
  This is Big: U.S. Could Double Hydropower Capacity with Minimal Impact - U.S. Energy Sec. says that hydropower capacity in the U.S. could "double with minimal impact to the environment", mostly just by installing more efficient turbines at existing hydroelectric projects or at dams without power components, increasing the use of pumped-storage projects, and encouraging the use of run-of-the-river turbines. (TreeHugger; Nov. 12, 2009)
  

• 
  Featured: Storage / Offshore Wind / Energy Islands >
  KEMA's Inverse Offshore Pump Accumulation Station - A new concept is being explored that would use excess renewable energy to pump water out of a lower reservoir into the surrounding sea as a storage mechanism. This artificial inverse island is being considered for off shore deployment in the North Sea. (PESWIki; Jan. 28, 2009)
  

High Impact Hydro

• Massive Explosion at Russian Hydroelectric Dam - An oil-filled transformer exploded at the Sayano-Shushenskaya power plant in Siberia, destroying three turbines and bringing down the ceiling of the turbine hall, which then violently flooded. The dam itself did not sustain any damage. 76 possible deaths. The dam produces a quarter of the total energy of RusHydro and also feeds the world's largest aluminum smelter. The damages will take years to repair." (Slashdot; Augl 18, 2009)
  

• 50 gigawatts of electrical power could be released by damming the Red Sea - Damming the Red Sea could solve the growing energy demands of millions of people in the Middle East and alleviate some of the region's tensions pertaining to oil supplies through hydroelectric power. Equally, such a massive engineering project may cause untold ecological harm and displace countless people from their homes. (PhysOrg; Dec. 6, 2007)
  

• Hydropower Doesn't Count as Clean Energy - According to recently published estimates from Ivan Lima and some of his colleagues at Brazil's National Institute for Space Research, the world's 52,000 largest dams release 104 million metric tons of methane annually. (AlterNet; Oct. 5, 2007)
  

• Salmon Survival, Cleaner Hydropower Focus of ORNL Research - A new advanced turbine being tested at Wanapum Dam in Washington state produces nearly 5 percent more power, but before more are installed researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are getting input from several thousand fish. (NewsWise; April 28, 2005)
  

• Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Hydroelectric Dams - Controversies Provide a Springboard for Rethinking a Supposedly ‘Clean’ Energy Source (IngentaConnect; Sept. 2004)
  

• Dam Decommissioning
  

• Queen of England Goes Green - A $1.7 million, four-turbine, energy-efficient plant to be built on the River Thames will generate 200 kilowatts -- about 1/3 of the energy required to power the queen's Windsor residence. (PhysOrg; July 25, 2005)
  

As a Component in a Non-Nature System

Capillary Action

• 
  Featured: Hydro >
  Are Capillary Action Engines Possible? - For a few hundred years, many people have attempted to devise a way to come out ahead with capillary action. Yes, a dry cloth can lift water and essentially do work - but the energy it then takes to get the water out of the capillary tight spaces is considered by physics to be more than you can ever get from the absorption stage. (PESWiki; Nov. 9, 2009) (Comment)
  

Resources

In the News

See News:Hydro - separate page

Directories

• EnergyOcean 2008 - The 5th Annual EnergyOcean conference co-located with SubSea Survey 2008, June 24-28, 2008 in Galveston, Texas, will be focusing on renewable and sustainable energy from the oceans.
  

• United States Society on Dams
• Corp of Engineers Flood Control
• Wikipedia:Hydroelectricity
• Wikipedia:Pumped-storage_hydroelectricity

See also

HYDRO FOOTER

• Directory:Hydro
• News:Hydro
• Directory:Low Impact Hydro
  • Directory:River Energy
• Directory:Ocean or Marine Power
  • Directory:Ocean Current
  • Directory:Tidal Power
  • Directory:Ocean Wave Energy
    • Directory:Wave buoys
    • ‎Directory:Propulsion from Ocean Waves
  • Directory:Energy Islands
  • Directory:Mixing Sea and River Water
• Directory:Capillary Action Engines (un-demonstrated theory)

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