Is Hydropower to Replace Nuclear Power?: Hydropower: Eco20/20

Is Hydropower to Replace Nuclear Power?

Germany is set to lead the way to a nuclear power time out, which may become permanent after the catastrophic nuclear crisis in Japan. Seven nuclear power plants have already been timed out, and if these time outs become permanent, the renewable resources energy sector may step in and take over. Germany is already boasting one of the world's largest green economies. Germany is not the only country that has sat up and taken notice of the nuclear crisis of this time. Germany, however, is also not the only country that had long ago begun to not only research and develop but also build and implement green energy harvesting and converting stations nationally.

As many countries continue researching green energy, there are some remarkable advantages to using hydroelectric power plants. These advantages are not only from the green sector being superior in many ways to the quickly-outdating nuclear power and power from fossil fuels. Hydropower also has numerous advantages over other green energy power resources.

The most amazing advantage hydropower has over other resources is the harvesting factor. This number is the ratio of the energy expected to be produced by the power plant versus the energy expected to be expended to build the power plant. Hydropower plants have an incredible harvest factor of roughly one thousand two hundred; this is the only power source with a harvest factor in the thousands. Wind has a harvest factor of 90, while the solar harvest factor is a low 13, and photovoltaic is a surprisingly low 1.3 harvest factor.

Another superiority hydropower plants have over other sources of renewable and nonrenewable energy is the useful life expectancy of the plant itself. Hydropower plants are expected to remain active for an average of eighty years, while nuclear power plants have a useful life expectancy of forty years, photovoltaic plants have thirty years, and solar and wind each only have twenty years of useful life.

For the majority of the world, hydropower plants can be a feasible renewable energy conversion process. Most locations are near to rivers, lakes, ponds or even oceans. If the ocean is the only source of water nearby, there are also ocean turbines. These use the waves or current of the ocean to spin turbines to create power much the same way as hydropower plants use the head and flow of a river and/or waterfall to create the spin of the turbine that creates electricity.

Hydropower can create enough electricity to provide surplus electricity back to the grid for storage, making the risk of a blackout less likely. Hydropower is one of many great answers to the global call for the reduction of use of nuclear power plants. As more surpluses are stored, the easier it will be to completely phase out the construction and use of nuclear power plants.