History Of Hydropower Of The United States - 1416 Words

Blake Ulmer Dakins ENVS 484 September 26, 2016 History of Hydropower in the United States Introduction Humans have made significant discoveries in utilizing the countless benefits of water, one of the most important being the ability to use water to perform work. This is the concept of hydropower. Hydropower is using the energy of moving water to create power. This clean and renewable method of power generation is used all throughout the globe, and accounts for a small percentage of global electricity demand. Hydropower hasn’t always existed as the large scale dams that are abundant today. Hydropower technologies have been slowly evolving for many centuries. The Water Wheel in the United States More than two thousand years ago, the waterwheel was invented in the Mediterranean region by a Roman Engineer (Hazen). With the increasing population and resource needs, humans strived for ways to increase the efficiency of common tasks. Fortunately, the development of the waterwheel proved to be a great help in creating energy. Waterwheels are large wheels placed strategically on locations with flowing or falling water. The waterwheels used blades or buckets built in the wheel to capture the energy of the water and drive a process (Hazen). In the United States during the 1700’s, most waterwheels were used in watermills to drive processes such as grinding wheat into flour, breaking ore, and sawing timber. The water wheel was a valuable tool in early United States history, butShow MoreRelatedHydropower Essay854 Words   |  4 PagesHydropower is an effective renewable energy source used around the world. I had many questions about hydropower after I heard about it. How do they harness the energy in Hydro plants? What does the U.S. have to do with Hydropower? Where do they put the energy? I found out that Hydropower is a very interesting useful thing to learn. 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