Energy A Beginner's Guide By Vaclav Smil
Water as a renewable energy source has been used within human society since the creation of the water wheel. Hydroelectricity continues to be utilized today in countries such as the United States and is an obviously viable option to clean, renewable energy. However, Energy: A Beginner’s Guide by Vaclav Smil, reveals the consequences of hydropower that most people are generally unaware of. I decided upon hydroelectric power to reflect on because I was initially in favor of using it as a substitute to fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas. Now, I believe I need to reassess if hydropower is still a suitable source of sustainable energy or if it is both an inefficient and harmful method of harnessing energy.
Hydropower was formerly a
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Rinkesh writes: “The reservoir of water for hydroelectric power releases a large amount of carbon dioxide and methane […] plants and trees in them start rotting and decompose […] dumps a great amount of methane and carbon dioxide which increase pollution” (Rinkesh). Thus disclosing, that hydropower is not completely clean and still contributes to pollution—at a minor scale compared to fossil fuels, but a contribution nonetheless. Rinkesh also states: “The formation of large and huge dams destroys the living beings around them […] plants are destroyed […] while flowing through the dam collects nitrogen […] damage the reproduction of fishes thus eliminating the whole species of fishes” (Rinkesh). Hydropower can also be directly responsible for the elimination of aquatic species and plant life; while fossil fuels are indirectly the cause of dying species and plant life, hydropower can directly affect it. Furthermore, the potential for hydroelectric energy in the United States “have already developed as much of their large-scale hydrogenating capacity as they can”, rendering the idea that the use of hydroelectricity could replace fossil fuels as moot (Smil 167). It is also stated that the perception of hydroenergy has shifted “from a clean, renewable, and environmentally benign resource, to a much more controversial cause of socially and environmentally disruptive, and economically questionable, developments”, which impacts the continued implementation and future application of hydropower immensely (Smil
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