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Energy and the Environment: Water Power

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Selected Web Pages

Hydroelectricity : Electricity from Hydropower
Describes pros and cons.

Hydropower Renewable Energy Technology Basics
Flowing water creates energy that can be captured and turned into electricity. This is called hydroelectric power or hydropower.

Marine Current Turbines
Marine Current Turbines Ltd is the world leader in the development of new technology for exploiting tidal currents for large-scale power generation.

National Geographic's Hydropower
Going With the Flow. Hydropower is electricity generated using the energy of moving water. Rain or melted snow, usually originating in hills and mountains, creates streams and rivers that eventually run to the ocean. The energy of that moving water can be substantial, as anyone who has been whitewater rafting knows. 

Net Generation from Hydroelectric (Conventional) Power by State by Sector, Year-to-Date through December 2007 and 2006 (Thousand Megawatthours)
Statistics compiled by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

New Wave : Grid Power from the Sea
Greenwire reporter Michael Burnham and E&ETV explore the emerging offshore hydropower industry. Spurred by volatile fossil fuel prices and climate change pressures, entrepreneurs are developing technologies aimed at tapping the power of waves and tides to generate clean, renewable energy.

Ocean Energy Renewable Energy Technology Basics
The ocean can produce two types of energy: thermal energy from the sun's heat, and mechanical energy from the tides and waves.

Powered by Water: A Resource Guide to Hydroelectricity

The Role of Hydroelectric Power in the United States.
Energy Information Administration, 2011.

Tidal Wave Alternative Energy (YouTube)
The strong kinetic energy in ocean currents is a renewable resource. See how scientists capture it.

U.S. Department of Energy
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Wind and Hydropower Technologies Program
The U.S. Department of Energy conducts research on a wide range of advanced waterpower technologies. As part of its commitment to develop clean, domestic energy sources, DOE is collaborating with industry, regulators and other stakeholders to investigate emerging water power technologies and to further improve conventional hydropower systems.
Emerging water power technologies include marine and hydrokinetic devices, which offer the potential to capture energy from waves, tides, ocean currents and the natural flow of water in rivers, as well as marine thermal gradients, without building new dams or diversions. DOE will focus on research to reduce the costs of these technologies while improving reliability and performance. In conventional hydropower, the program's 2008 priorities are the continued improvement in the efficiency and environmental performance of turbines and dams.