An Energy Renaissance by Leonardo Qin (G6) An Energy Renaissance By Leonardo Qin Grade 6 Energy plants that use water and wind to power them may seem like an unreliable resource and a bad option to many people, but they actually have been around for a long time. Today, scientists and engineers have made them popular—and reliable—energy sources that we are currently using regularly. These new hydroelectric plants and wind turbines aren’t engineered much differently from the coal and nuclear plants that we often see. However, these new plants have unique designs, benefits, and problems that the others don’t have. Now, you is confused and probably have many questions, which are what this article will address here. How They Work Most power plants have one thing in common—they usually have a generator. After all, without a generator, no energy could be made, and the plants would just be a useless chunk of metal. However, the generator is activated in different ways. In a hydroelectric plant, water first flows into the penstock on a dam, a large pipe or gate that controls the flow of the water. This causes the water to be directed to a turbine propeller, a machine for producing continuous power using the mechanical power from turning a wheel connected to it. The force of the water turns the turbine, which is connected to the generator. The shaft from the turbine turns up into the generator, causing it to produce power. Power flows through the generators to the power lines, carrying electricity to buildings. Wind turbines work in a similar way. Wind blows on a blade, which is connected a rotor, the rotating part of the turbine, which is connected to the shaft. This causes the blade to spin, which spins the shaft as well. When the shaft, which is connected to the generator, spins, the generator converts the movement energy into electrical energy, like before. The electricity then travels through cables and wires. Though this is just the basic concept of how they work, these plants aren’t as complicated and mysterious as you would think. They just have clever designing. Clean Energy: Benefits of Hydroelectric Plants and Wind Turbines Hydroelectric plants and wind turbines both have many benefits. One benefit that they both share is that they use renewable energy. This means that the resource doesn’t run out and is either infinite or is reused. From how the two plants work, you can probably tell that their energy source from water flowing and wind blowing. Wind is an infinite resource, and water is also a near-infinite resource. In “Hydroelectric Power” it says, “It’s a renewable power source. Rain and snow supply the water.” Also, in “Capturing the Wind” the author states “Wind energy is also renewable, which means it can’t be used up.” At the same time, the source doesn’t need to be constantly operated by people, since the energy is natural and uses nature itself. These benefits all make the plants more efficient compared to other power plants. Another major benefit that the hydroelectric plants and wind turbines have is that they are clean energy. Or, so to say, they don’t create pollution that contributes to climate change. How? These plants don’t release anything into the air, so they don’t harm the atmosphere with harmful chemicals. Clean energy can be really important, because most fossil fuel plants, like coal plants and nuclear plants, release a lot of gas that is dangerous to the environment. The atmosphere is suffering from this, which is one main reason that climate change has been on the rise. Changing our sources to clean energy can help solve this. As the text “Capturing the Wind” says, “In 2013, the clean energy produced by wind power was equal to the effect of taking nearly 17 million cars off the roads.” 17 million sure is a big number! Disturbance in the Environment: Problems with Hydroelectric Plants and Wind Turbines Now, after all reading about the abundant advantages and benefits from above, you might be thinking that hydroelectric plants and wind turbines are the best energy sources ever and that they are superior to any other energy source. However, nothing can be completely perfect. In other words, these two plants also have many of their own flaws and problems. One major problem that the plants both share is that they “disturb” their surrounding environment. Sure, these plants don’t create air pollution, but they still can harm animals that are too close to them. For example, a hydroelectric plant can cause harm to the plants and animals that neighbor it in the river. To support this, the text “Hydroelectric Power” says, “Hydropower plants can cause low levels of oxygen in water, which is harmful to river plants and animals.” Also, wind turbines have been responsible for deaths of bird and bat hordes. Each of these plants disrupt the environment in some way. Hydroelectric plants and wind turbines have their own, unique problems as well. One problem for hydroelectric plants is that they have to be built on a dam. Dams will create large bodies of water, called reservoirs. Those reservoirs can flood over and cover land, which means that the land just got flooded. If that land is farmland, then the vegetables and crops on the farm will be washed away, and the soil will have too much moisture. An unique problem for wind turbines is that they cause a lot of noise. Many people that live near them have complained about the noise that they make as they turn. In the text, “Capturing the Wind”, the author jokes, “Turbines do create one kind of pollution: noise pollution. People who live close to wind farms often complain about the noise the turbines make as they turn.” While this might seem like a light problem, the fact that people are being annoyed is still acknowledgeable. The Future of Energy: Wrapping Up While hydroelectric plants and wind turbines may have multiple benefits, they also have lots of problems. As technology evolves and our experience grows, we will continue making progress and learn more about renewable energy. One thing is important: these plants are foundations that will start building our revolution of energy. Who knows? One day, all our energy sources might be powered by nature, all of them almost flawless. This is only the beginning to the energy renaissance!
