FUTURE OF HYDROPOWER

The Future of Hydropower

[Name of the Institute]

The Future of Hydropower

Introduction

By the year 2050, the population of world is forecasted to increase from 6 billion to 9 billion. World energy consumption will increase substantially as a result of the population increase. There are many regions of the world in which several people do not have access to electricity. Sustainable economic growth is not possible in the absence of electricity. The largest source of renewable energy comes from hydropower. However, there are a few social and environmental issues associated with hydropower. Hydropower can displace many people from the reservoir area, give rise to waterborne diseases, replacement of cultural heritage are the major social issues created by hydropower. In spite of all these issues, hydropower offers a wide range of benefits over other forms of energy to people.

Discussion

Case Study: Hydropower plant Gottfrieding/Isar

A hydropower plant on the river Isar in Germany has a vertical slot passage. This slot passage helps in the passage of fish. This enables fish to move through the river without hitting any obstacle created by the hydropower. The outcomes of this vertical slot have proved to be effective.

Figure 1: Vertical Pass Slots (International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River. 2013, p. 8)

Case Study: Miles and Gail Fursdon

In 1995, Miles and Gail Fursdon built a micro-hydro system on their farm at Old Walls, Devon in the United Kingdom. They made use of the falling water for generating electricity to be used by the farm. The extra electricity that is produced is exported to the National Grid. The electricity that is produced is sufficient for the villages nearby (Farming Future, n.d., p. 1). This practice has yielded benefits for the environment and for providing knowledge to others regarding micro-hydro systems. It has offered a stable source of alternative income for the farm. All the environmental requirements that were set by the Environmental Agency of UK were fulfilled by this project.

Figure 2: Functioning of a hyrdropower plant (Bonsor, 2011)

Justification for Social, Environmental and Ethical Concerns

Further schemes should be created for promoting the practice of Hydrocarbon as the benefits offered by Hydropower outweigh the costs associated with its implementation. The case study of Miles and Gail Fursdon clearly demonstrates that further hydropower schemes should be built. Hydropower provided several benefits to the villagers by providing them cheap electricity, alternative income for the farm, and so forth. The hydropower system was created by following the environmental guidelines set by the UK agency. If best practice social and environmental standards are appropriately followed, hydropower will not have adverse social and environmental impacts. Hydropower firms can make use of the right expertise, skills and tools in order to implement and develop a risk management system.

Social

Schemes of hydropower have the potential to enhance quality of life and minimize poverty in the communities in which they serve. Access to electricity will empower women by decreasing repetitive domestic chores such as collection of firewood. It will give rise to new economic ...