A Green world with a green way to produce energy that’s the purpose for the next years. But it’s not because a source is renewable that this means it’s also a green way.
The power of hydroelectric dams is renewable and the energy that’s produced is carbon-free. But there are also bad things about them. First of all they block a river which means they block the movement of fish upstream to spawn and the movement of silt downstream to fertilize fields. And the rising water overwhelms the vegetation and forms methane which is far worse than carbon dioxide.
But until now the dam was necessary to house the turbines that create the electricity and to provide a sufficient head of water pressure to drive them. Until now because they have developed a turbine that doesn’t need such a water-head to operate.
Alexander Gorlov was the first to create a turbine that could extract power without building a dam, in 2001 he won an award for his invention. Since this invention engineers have been improving his design.
The latest design is produced by OpenHydro, an Irish company. They have designed a new kind of turbine but also a new design of underwater electric generator. It looks like an open-centre turbine contained within a tube. The generators do not need lubricant, which considerably reduces the need for maintenance.
A lot of companies are already prepared to invest in new ways to generate green energy, so let’s hope this leads to a greener world.
The power of hydroelectric dams is renewable and the energy that’s produced is carbon-free. But there are also bad things about them. First of all they block a river which means they block the movement of fish upstream to spawn and the movement of silt downstream to fertilize fields. And the rising water overwhelms the vegetation and forms methane which is far worse than carbon dioxide.
But until now the dam was necessary to house the turbines that create the electricity and to provide a sufficient head of water pressure to drive them. Until now because they have developed a turbine that doesn’t need such a water-head to operate.
Alexander Gorlov was the first to create a turbine that could extract power without building a dam, in 2001 he won an award for his invention. Since this invention engineers have been improving his design.
The latest design is produced by OpenHydro, an Irish company. They have designed a new kind of turbine but also a new design of underwater electric generator. It looks like an open-centre turbine contained within a tube. The generators do not need lubricant, which considerably reduces the need for maintenance.
A lot of companies are already prepared to invest in new ways to generate green energy, so let’s hope this leads to a greener world.
Source: The economist
1 opmerking:
Amazing.
All the different kinds of inventions that there allready exist. Thats really nice, also this damm is a very nice piece of modern technique in my opion.
Hopefully these things can built cheaper and more cheap in the future so that our world gets greener and more green!
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