In Module 7 we cover the three conventional baseload renewable energy technologies: hydropower, biomass and biogas. We don't usually hear renewable energy described as 'conventional' but since that term means that a technology has been implemented on a broad basis - is common - it sure applies here. These technologies are used around the globe and have been for centuries. All three technologies produce 'baseload' power, available 24/7, and are therefore easy replacements for fossil fuels. However, like all energy technologies, they can have environmental impacts and that's particularly true of hydropower and biomass.
Much of this material is adapted from chapters 5, 6 and 8 of 'Renewable Energy: Power for a Sustainable Future' 2/e, (2004) edited by Godfrey Boyle. Lecture 7A: Hydropower topics
7.1: Hydropower history and global use 7.2: Hydropower technology 7.3: Large and medium dams and barrages 7.4: Small-scale hydropower 7.5: Hydropower without dams 7.6: Tidal power 7.7: Ocean and wave power without barrages 7.8: What about evaporation engines? Module 7B: Biomass
7.9: Introduction to bioenergy and its use 7.10: Bioenergy and feedstock materials 7.11: Bioenergy co-products 7.12: Drivers of bioenergy & the bioenergy debate 7.13: Cord wood heat 7.14: Wood chip energy 7.15: Wood pellet energy 7.16: Grass biomass energy 7:17: Carbon neutral? Links and items of interest:
Hydropower with dams and barrages > Hydropower explained (EIA, 23 May 2018) > Catastrophic drought threatens Iraq as major dams in surrounding countries cut off water to its great rivers (Cockburn, The Independent, 2 Jul 2018) > EERE success story - innovative "French dam" cuts costs and construction time (EERE, 29 Nov 2016) > The untapped potential of America's hydropower (Spector, CityLab, 23 Nov 2015) > We're damming up every last big river on Earth. Is that really a good idea? (Plumer, Vox, 28 Oct 2014) > 171. Solving the Gabcikovo - Nagymaros dam conflict (Deets, Wilson Center, 11 Jul 2011) > China admits problems with the Three Gorges Dam (Wines, NYTimes, 19 May 2011) > 5 Promising water power technologies (U.S. Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, 26 Jun 2017) > Cornwall Ontario River Energy Project (Power Technology) > Hydroelectricity (Boulder, CO) [with video] > Case study: the benefits of small hydropower in Boulder, CO (Chelsea Green Publishing, 12 Apr 2009) |
> Short conferences about
progress on Research paper 1 > DUE Wed 13 Nov:
> Final draft of Research paper 1 |
Environmental impacts of dams
> Indigenous activists fight expansion of Canadian hydropower (Editor, VTDigger, 8 Dec 2019)
> The hidden cost of New England's demand for Canadian hydropower (Editor, VTDigger, 1 Dec 2019)
> How to make hydropower more environmentally friendly (Weiser, Ensia, 20 Dec 2016)
> Dams raise global warming gases (Hurtado, SciDevNet, 11 Jul 2016)
> Blocked migration: fish ladders on U.S. dams are not effective (Waldman, YaleEnvironment360, 4 April 2013)
> Fish and hydropower on the U.S. Atlantic coast: failed fisheries policies from half-way technologies (Brown et al., Conservation Letters, 11 Dec
2012)
> Indigenous activists fight expansion of Canadian hydropower (Editor, VTDigger, 8 Dec 2019)
> The hidden cost of New England's demand for Canadian hydropower (Editor, VTDigger, 1 Dec 2019)
> How to make hydropower more environmentally friendly (Weiser, Ensia, 20 Dec 2016)
> Dams raise global warming gases (Hurtado, SciDevNet, 11 Jul 2016)
> Blocked migration: fish ladders on U.S. dams are not effective (Waldman, YaleEnvironment360, 4 April 2013)
> Fish and hydropower on the U.S. Atlantic coast: failed fisheries policies from half-way technologies (Brown et al., Conservation Letters, 11 Dec
2012)
Galloway Hydro System
> Galloway hydro scheme (ScottishPower)
> Galloway hydro's environmental factsheet (ScottishPower)
> Galloway hydro's fishery management (ScottishPower)
> Movements of returning Atlantic salmon through Tongland fish pass (Armstrong et al., Marine Science Scotland, May 2012)
> Galloway hydro scheme (ScottishPower)
> Galloway hydro's environmental factsheet (ScottishPower)
> Galloway hydro's fishery management (ScottishPower)
> Movements of returning Atlantic salmon through Tongland fish pass (Armstrong et al., Marine Science Scotland, May 2012)
Elan Valley Hydro
> Hydropower (ElanValley.or)
> Historical perspectives of engineering project design, organisation and management: construction of the Elan Valley dams (Holt, Engineering
Project Organizational Journal, Dec 2013)
> Hydropower (ElanValley.or)
> Historical perspectives of engineering project design, organisation and management: construction of the Elan Valley dams (Holt, Engineering
Project Organizational Journal, Dec 2013)
Hydropower without dams or barrages
> Rentricity case study: City of Barre, VT (Rentricity, 2014)
> Nepal's mountain villages tap the power of "eternal snows" with micro-hydro (Handwerk, National Geographic, 20 Jul 2012)
> Economic sustainability of a peltric system; a case study in Nepal (Bhattarai, Jul 2011)
> Ending a damned nuisance: a new generation of free-standing turbines will liberate hydroelectric power from its dependence on dams
(The Economist, 19 Feb 2008)
> Micro hydro power plant (Turbulent) [with video]
> Smart Turbines (Smart Hydro) [with video]
> Turning water into power (Verterra Energy) [with video]
> How it works (Lucid Energy) [with video]
> Microhydro power basics (Homepower Magazine)
> Microhydro power systems: overview (Cunningham and Atkinson, altE Store)
> Micro hydro power proves life changing for Nepal (Schaffer, The Borgen Project, 5 Oct 2015) [with video]
> Rentricity case study: City of Barre, VT (Rentricity, 2014)
> Nepal's mountain villages tap the power of "eternal snows" with micro-hydro (Handwerk, National Geographic, 20 Jul 2012)
> Economic sustainability of a peltric system; a case study in Nepal (Bhattarai, Jul 2011)
> Ending a damned nuisance: a new generation of free-standing turbines will liberate hydroelectric power from its dependence on dams
(The Economist, 19 Feb 2008)
> Micro hydro power plant (Turbulent) [with video]
> Smart Turbines (Smart Hydro) [with video]
> Turning water into power (Verterra Energy) [with video]
> How it works (Lucid Energy) [with video]
> Microhydro power basics (Homepower Magazine)
> Microhydro power systems: overview (Cunningham and Atkinson, altE Store)
> Micro hydro power proves life changing for Nepal (Schaffer, The Borgen Project, 5 Oct 2015) [with video]
Tidal power
> The Severn barrage revisited (Andrews, Energy Matters, 23 Apr 2018)
> Can this giant turbine turn the tide for ocean energy (Maykuth, The Inquirer, 5 Sep 2017) [with video]
> Tidal power - all renewable energy is not created equal (Conca, Forbes, 27 Jul 2017)
> Tidal power turbines in the East River (Kelechava, American National Standards Institute blog, 6 Jan 2016)
> Revolutionary tidal fence is set to trap the sea's power (Kirby, Guardian, 7 Aug 2015)
> UK government rejects current Severn barrage plans (Harvey, Guardian, 18 Sep 2013)
> Reef to replace barrage to tap the tides? (Bunyard, Science in Society Archive, 30 Mar 2009)
> Severn reef plan is 'more green' (BBC, 26 Nov 2008)
> Severn tidal power reef (Armstrong Evans, 7 Nov 2008)
> The RITE project (Verdant Power)
> Deep Green ocean kite (Minesto)
> The Severn barrage revisited (Andrews, Energy Matters, 23 Apr 2018)
> Can this giant turbine turn the tide for ocean energy (Maykuth, The Inquirer, 5 Sep 2017) [with video]
> Tidal power - all renewable energy is not created equal (Conca, Forbes, 27 Jul 2017)
> Tidal power turbines in the East River (Kelechava, American National Standards Institute blog, 6 Jan 2016)
> Revolutionary tidal fence is set to trap the sea's power (Kirby, Guardian, 7 Aug 2015)
> UK government rejects current Severn barrage plans (Harvey, Guardian, 18 Sep 2013)
> Reef to replace barrage to tap the tides? (Bunyard, Science in Society Archive, 30 Mar 2009)
> Severn reef plan is 'more green' (BBC, 26 Nov 2008)
> Severn tidal power reef (Armstrong Evans, 7 Nov 2008)
> The RITE project (Verdant Power)
> Deep Green ocean kite (Minesto)
Wave power
> Why wave power may be the next big thing in green energy (Bennington-Castro, NBC News, 24 Nov 2017)
> AquaHarmonics awarded $1.5 million wave energy converter prize (Fortuna, CleanTechnica, 8 Dec 2016)
> World energy resources: marine power 2016 (World Energy Council, 2016)
> Wave power: how it works (GreenPeace, 2008) [Pelamis sea-snake]
> Pelamis wave power (The European Marine Energy Centre) [with video]
> BOLT lifesaver (Bolt Seapower) [with video]
> What is CETO? (Carnegie Clean Energy)
> bioWAVE (bps.energy) [with video]
> Wello Penguin (wello.eu) [with video]
> Why wave power may be the next big thing in green energy (Bennington-Castro, NBC News, 24 Nov 2017)
> AquaHarmonics awarded $1.5 million wave energy converter prize (Fortuna, CleanTechnica, 8 Dec 2016)
> World energy resources: marine power 2016 (World Energy Council, 2016)
> Wave power: how it works (GreenPeace, 2008) [Pelamis sea-snake]
> Pelamis wave power (The European Marine Energy Centre) [with video]
> BOLT lifesaver (Bolt Seapower) [with video]
> What is CETO? (Carnegie Clean Energy)
> bioWAVE (bps.energy) [with video]
> Wello Penguin (wello.eu) [with video]
Evaporation power?!
> Evaporation engines could produce more power than coal, with a huge caveat (Temple, 26 Sep 2017, MIT Technology Review)
> Potential for natural generation as a reliable renewable energy resource (Ahmet-Hamdi, Nature Communications, 26 Sep 2017)
> Scaling up nanoscale water-driven energy conversion into evaporation driven engines and generators (Chen et al., Nature
Communications, 16 Jun 2015)
> VIDEO: Renewable energy from evaporating water (ExtremeBio, 16 Jun 2015)
> Evaporation engines could produce more power than coal, with a huge caveat (Temple, 26 Sep 2017, MIT Technology Review)
> Potential for natural generation as a reliable renewable energy resource (Ahmet-Hamdi, Nature Communications, 26 Sep 2017)
> Scaling up nanoscale water-driven energy conversion into evaporation driven engines and generators (Chen et al., Nature
Communications, 16 Jun 2015)
> VIDEO: Renewable energy from evaporating water (ExtremeBio, 16 Jun 2015)