Hydroelectricity

Within the ancient country of Japan, thousands of hydroelectric dams exist. The first hydroelectric dam built in Japan was the Oi Dam in 1924. These concrete megaliths have many purposes, with one major function for the Japanese and humans worldwide being the production of hydroelectric power. In essence, the electricity produced by hydroelectric power is a renewable resource generated through the movement of water. This form of energy produces no waste and does not emit carbon dioxide. Yet, many people do not consider large hydroelectric projects to be a sustainable energy source due to the belief that they do not produce enough energy to make their construction necessary. Indeed, the construction of the dams harm the environment in many ways, such as land clearing; the destruction of animal habitat, and the dispersal of humans from their ancient homelands.

Green building is not just a matter of assembling a collection of the latest green technologies or materials. Rather, it is a process in which every element of the design is first optimized and then the impact and interrelationship of various different elements and systems within the building and site are re-evaluated, integrated, and optimized as part of a whole building solution. By blending the right mix of green technologies that cost less with green technologies that cost the same or slightly more, it is possible to have a very green building project that costs the same as a conventional one. Often the key to a cost effective green building and site design lies within the interrelationships and associated cost and performance trade-offs that exist between different building systems. It is also paramount to separate the role of the different participants in ensuring that the building consumes minimal resources during its life cycle and that it poses a minimal threat to the environment by minimizing the ecological footprint. The main aim of this project is to add various renewable energy sources to green building and create a 3D model on Autodesk Revit Architecture.

For every successful megaproject, there are dozens that have failed to launch, left as paper remains, imaginary geographies of development and enterprise. Although most scholarly attention focuses understandably on the projects which have been built, we need to look again at those projects that have been put aside, rejected, and cancelled. Failed projects produce unbuilt environments, and these have their own peculiar effects. This paper interrogates the planning, development, debate and abandonment of a massive infrastructure project in a remote area of northwest British Columbia. BC Hydro's attempt to build five dams on the Stikine and Iskut Rivers in the late 1970s and early 1980s never materialized. However, in the ten-year attempt to justify the economic and environmental cost of the proposed dams, BC Hydro commissioned several dozen large resource inventories and analyses of biophysical, cultural, socioeconomic and hydrological data in the Stikine Watershed, where this information had been largely absent. In doing so, BC Hydro circumscribed the terms of the debate around dam construction, framed the constituents of the debate and reordered knowledge about the region. Locals and other interested parties began to engage with the river differently. I argue that the apparatuses of scientific, engineering and technological engagement that were implemented by BC Hydro resulted in both material and discursive changes to nature in the Stikine. I develop the concept of 'unbuilt environments' to understand the changes that emerge in the wake of failed infrastructure projects.

This article examines the strategy of electrification for Sarawak which centers on large-scale hydroelectric projects. Drawing from extensive in-field interviews of stakeholders in Sarawak who are affected by the soon-to-be-completed 2400megawatt (MW) Bakun Hydroelectric Project, this article presents documentary evidence that these “hard path” mega energy projects are economically, socially and ecologically sub-optimal. The study suggests that more rigorous development

"A catastrophic draught event was reported across much of the north of South America during August - December 2005. This resulted in extensive and irreversible damage in parts of the
Amazon river network. The 2005 Amazon draught followed very unusual changes in the Atlantic Ocean’s circulatory system that altered typical wind and rain patterns. Many climatic models predict the future desiccation of the Amazon region. This paper discusses dangers of sudden swings in the Amazon’s climate and how these risks can be reduced and securing the future of the river system.

The Amazon river systems’ inability to adapt to the new seasonal climate patterns in 2005, which led to a complete destruction of some river ecosystems, suggested us to look at water engineering solutions to prevent the risks of more tributaries of such dying. We made a case study to oxygenate the Amazon river to raise its draught-stress threshold during the likely future draughts that may be even worse than today if the Atlantic weather system generates more storms as the world’s temperature rises.

We studied a 100 kilometre wide section near the Amazon’s mouth. We assumed temperature +30C (when 100% oxygenated water contains 7,6 mg O2 / litre). The addition of 2,5 mg O2 / l represents 1/3 of the total, i.e. raising from 70% to 100%. This large water body oxygenation project requires 4 million kg O2 / day. 2,000 MIXOX units consume 80 MW / 100 km of river. 1,000 km demand is at 800 MW (1 power station), costing ~500 million euros p.a." http://www.vesieko.fi/yhteystiedot

L’essai s’inscrit dans le contexte de la montée en influence de la Déclaration des Nations Unies sur les droits des peuples autochtones. Appuyée par le Canada en 2010, la Déclaration prévoit l’obligation, pour les États, de consulter les peuples autochtones en vue d’obtenir leur consentement libre et éclairé, préalablement à l'exploitation des ressources sur leurs territoires ancestraux. L’objectif principal de cet essai est de faire l’état des lieux de la mise en œuvre du droit au consentement au sein des activités minières, hydroélectriques et forestières du Nord québécois et de proposer des pistes de réflexion sur l’amélioration des pratiques actuelles.

Dans un objectif de contextualisation, l’essai présente d’abord le processus de négociation de la Déclaration, auquel ont participé de façon particulièrement active les peuples autochtones du monde entier. Il met également en lumière les raisons pour lesquelles la mise en œuvre des droits autochtones prévus à la Déclaration peut s’avérer complexe. Parmi ces raisons figurent la divergence des points de vue sur l’interprétation à donner au droit au consentement, de même que la variété des tentatives de mise en œuvre observées dans quatre régions du monde et leurs effets positifs et négatifs sur les peuples autochtones. Au Québec, aucune mesure n’a encore été adoptée afin d’intégrer au droit et aux pratiques internes la Déclaration et son principe de consentement.

L’essai vise ensuite à identifier les distinctions entre les peuples autochtones bénéficiant d’ententes avec les gouvernements canadien et québécois et ceux qui n’en bénéficient pas, ainsi qu’à comparer la législation et les pratiques minières, hydroélectriques et forestières en lien avec la consultation et le consentement autochtones. L’essai démontre ainsi comment chacune des composantes des régimes minier, hydroélectrique et forestier favorise ou nuit au respect du droit au consentement. En guise de synthèse, une évaluation systématique de la performance des trois secteurs industriels relativement au respect du droit au consentement est effectuée. Celle-ci est basée sur des critères d’évaluation adaptés, une échelle de pointage et un système d’indices de pointage. Les résultats soulignent la longueur d’avance de l’industrie forestière quant à la mise en œuvre de pratiques favorables à l’atteinte du consentement. Ils révèlent également l’écart entre le sort réservé aux nations et communautés autochtones qui disposent d’ententes comportant des mesures contraignantes pour le gouvernement québécois, en particulier les traités, et ceux qui n’en disposent pas. Enfin, des recommandations sont formulées afin d’accompagner les décideurs dans l’élaboration de stratégies de mise en œuvre du droit au consentement. Celles-ci reposent sur la prémisse que les peuples autochtones doivent avoir la liberté de choisir les façons d’opérationnaliser ce droit, et ce afin de respecter le droit à l’autodétermination que défend la Déclaration et que vise à servir le droit au consentement.

In engineering projects such as tunnels, dams, foundations, and slope stability, the strength and elastic properties of the intact rock affect both the project design and the construction operation. Geological, geophysical and geotechnical study have been carried out for construction of multipurpose hydroelectric power plant at Genale-Dawa (GD-3) on the Genale River with the goal of generating 254 MW of hydroelectric power and providing irrigation water for downstream agriculture. The dam site is located on massive pegmatoidal granites with minimal foundation excavations and minimal grouting requirements. Weathering at the dam site is generally less than about 5 m. In general the Lugeon tests have shown that the rock mass at the dam site is generally tight below 6 m but this could extend to 10 m or possibly more in places. In the power house area weathering extends to about 15 m on the ridge and about 9 m in proximity to the river. This deeper weathering is probably due to the presence of schists within the granites as the foliated schists with significant mica content are more prone to weathering. Point load test, laboratory UCS tests and correlation of P-wave velocity with UCS is considered in assigning the reliable value of rock strength. Combined three input parameters RMR, Q system and RMi system were used for the assessment of the rock mass strength of tunnel and dam foundation. The tunnel will be excavated largely in the pegmatoidal granites with a Rock Mass Classification of ''Very Good'' to ''Good'' This is largely due to the massive, relatively un-jointed rock mass of high strength. There is a section of headrace tunnel, of uncertain length and at the surge shaft in proximity to the outlet portal, where significant proportions of the pegmatoidal granites contain remnants of feldspathic and biotite schists, the Rock Mass Classification of this unit is ''Fair'' to ''Good''. The proposed hydropower project is situated in a geologically favorable environment with very suitable foundation and tunneling conditions. The study lists recommendations in relation to testing and rock classification procedures, which are indirectly related to the safety and quality of the hydropower infrastructure.

This article explores implications of the Nepal Power Development Project (NPDP), a scheme funded by a consortium of multilateral donors, including the World Bank and the Government of Nepal, to promote grid-connected hydroelectricity, off-grid microhydro energy, and transmission and distribution upgrades. After explaining its methods of data collection – namely research interviews, field research, and a literature review – the article explores the specific components of the NPDP as well as its progress to date. The most successful part of the project focused on Microhydro Village Electrification and distributed more than 250 units to 50,000 households in less than ten years. The article then delves into the delivered benefits of the NPDP before identifying a series of technical, economic, political, and social challenges. It concludes by highlighting how community involvement and mobilization, institutional diversity, reliance on simple technologies matched in proper scale to energy end-uses, maintenance and after sales service, flexibility, and restructuring can enhance the effectiveness of energy development programs.►The Nepal Power Development Project was funded by multilateral donors and government. ►It promoted microhydro energy along with T&D upgrades. ►It distributed hundreds of microhydro units in less than ten years.

Hydroelectricity has always been a challenging issue for Central Asia since independence. Especially high amounts of water demand for the traditional cotton production in Uzbekistan has long made water one of the most valuable yet disputable natural resources in the region, along with hydrocarbon resources. This paper deals with the hydroelectricity in the Naryn River basin, shared by Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, and argues that the current status of the Soviet era electricity institutions, such as the Central Asian Power System, and infrastructure do not fully meet the demand of the basin countries, neither in terms of electricity, nor in terms of irrigation. Although the hydroelectricity-irrigation dispute can be technically solved by the completion of the Kambarata-1 project on the upper Naryn basin, mutual trust and cooperation among the basin countries are vital for a sustainable, effective and integrated energy system and market to be established in the region. Especially for the economic development of Kyrgyzstan, the accomplishment of the planned hydroelectricity projects and exporting electricity to the high-demand markets like China, Afghanistan and Pakistan in the south and east besides Central Asia is an important alternative. The support of third parties, such as the US or China is essential in this process.

La technique de simulation des grandeséchelles (SGE) est utilisée pour simuler l'écoulement dans un aspirateur de centrale hydrauliqueà différents points de fonctionnement. La complexité de la géométrie et le haut nombre de Reynolds de l'écoulement nécessitent l'utilisation de méthodes spécifiques. Ainsi, nous avons développé un traitementà la paroi tenant compteà la fois du frottement pariétal mais aussi du gradient de pression. La technique utilisée pour permettre de générer des conditions d'entrée instationnaires réalistes,à partir de données expérimentales, estégalement détaillée. Les différents régimes d'écoulements résultant de cette configuration sont alors présentés.

The Great Depression in Puerto Rico was marked by interconnected infrastructural, environmental, and sociioeconomic crises caued by the global economic contraction and two devastating natural disasters, the San Felipe and San Ciprian hurricanes of 1928 and 1932. After 1935, all relief and recovery programs were coordinated by the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA), a locally run federal agency of the Second New Deal. Between 1935 and 1943, Puerto Rican engineers and workers constructed seven major hydroelectric projects in the Cordillera Central to generate inexpensive electric power while also providing adequate flood relief, year-round irrigation for the dry southern coast, and abundant reserves of clean drinking water. As with other PRRA projects, all property, constructions, and lands of the rural electrification program were transferred to the local governments, which established the Puerto Rico Water Resources Authority to administer the water and electric resources of the island. Modeled on the Tennessee Valley Authority, this public corporation helped Puerto Rico recover from the 1928 and 1932 hurricanes, improved long-term health, and broke the power of private utility companies that had controlled water and electric resources for decades. At the same time, however, the hydro-electrification projects exposed the complex relationship between rural life and economic modernization in Puerto Rico and influenced the beginning of a new "reformed" colonialism based on permanent political ties between Puerto Rico and the United States. The PRRA created space for increased local autonomy on the island by strengthening its colonial association with the United States.

This article explores the role of interest groups in the politics of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP). These types of non-governmental actors have, in the recent past, begun to make inroads into the domain of water politics. Their participation in this milieu stretches from Namibia to China and Latin America. The LHWP also has its fair share involvement of these groups. They seem to focus their attention on the World Bank which is partially funding the LHWP. Their endeavours do not seem to be very effective due to the existence of certain factors, among others the willingness or rather unwillingness of the governments of Lesotho and South Africa and of the World Bank to bow to their influence. Therefore, the interest groups are not very influential in their actions against the governments of Lesotho and South Africa and the World Bank regarding the LHWP.

Nepal has 83,000 MW (megawatts) of exploitable hydropower resources. Yet the country has tapped less than 650 MW of this potential and hydroelectricity meets less than 1% of total national energy consumption. This article explores why. Using a mixed methods approach consisting of semi-structured research interviews, site visits, and a literature review, it explores the various factors impeding the use of small-scale and medium-sized hydroelectric power stations in Nepal. It begins by laying out the research methods for the study along with a concept known as the social science systems approach, or socio-technical systems theory. This theory supposes that the barriers to any technology from reaching commercialization are simultaneously social, consisting of values, attitudes, regulations, and price signals, as well as technical. The study then evaluates a “seamless web” of these types of barriers facing hydropower systems in Nepal. It concludes by offering lessons for policymakers and scholars concerned about Nepal as well as energy policy more generally.► Nepal has 83,000 MW (megawatts) of exploitable hydropower resources, but has tapped less than 650 MW. ► Some barriers to hydro in Nepal are social, consisting of values, attitudes, regulations, and price signals. ► Other barriers are technical, involving challenges related to hydrology, dam design, and maintenance.

Postal 478 -69011-970 -Manaus -AM, Brasil {Paulo Maurício} [email protected] {Philip} [email protected]. Abstract. Dams are permanent source of greenhouse gases, among them methane (CH 4 ). The production and emission of this gas occurs because of fluctuation in the water level. When the minimum level is reached, a large area known as the drawdown zone expose where herbaceous vegetation grows up quickly. This vegetation decomposes and emits methane when the reservoirs level rises. The objective this research is to estimate this drawdown area of the Balbina Dam, at the minimum level of 1997 and maximum of 2003. The result of this technique is a change-detection map, derived from the TM/Landsat sensor, a thematic representation of the Balbina Dam drawdown zone. Palavras-chave: Balbina Dam, drawdown, remote sensing, change detection, Hidrelétrica de Balbina, deplecionamento, sensoriamento remoto, detecção de mudanças. 6713 4 3 artigo anterior 9

The increasing demand for energy, especially from renewable and sustainable sources, spurs the development of small hydropower plants and encourages investment in new survey studies. Preliminary hydropower survey studies usually carry huge uncertainties about the technical, economic and environmental feasibility of the undeveloped potential. This paper presents a methodology for large-scale survey of hydropower potential sites to be applied in the inception phase of hydroelectric development planning. The sequence of procedures to identify hydropower sites is based on remote sensing and regional streamflow data and was automated within a GIS-based computational program: Hydrospot. The program allows spotting more potential sites along the drainage network than it would be possible in a traditional survey study, providing different types of dam-powerhouse layouts and two types (operating modes) of projects: run-of-the-river and storage projects. Preliminary results from its applications in a hydropower-developed basin in Brazil have shown Hydrospot's limitations and potentialities in giving support to the mid-to-long-term planning of the electricity sector.

The Lower Sesan 2 (LS2) Hydropower Project in northeastern Cambodia is presently under construction. As the largest dam to ever be built in Cambodia, it is expected to cause serious and widespread environmental and social impacts. This article analyzes, on the one hand, the relationships between Cambodian non-government organizations (NGOs) and villagers who will be negatively impacted by LS2, and on the other, NGO relations with the Cambodian state. While development actors frequently attempt to construct particular narratives in order to control development trajectories, this research demonstrates that such attempts can meet with serious resistance from local people, even when facing powerful opponents, including in this case NGOs that prefer to advocate for better resettlement and compensation conditions rather than for the cancellation of projects. Focusing on interactions, positioning, local agency, and the particular political culture of Cambodia, this article highlights the importance of particular types of patronage relations in Cambodia between NGOs and villagers, NGOs and the state, and associated territorialization.

La evolución de la energía hidroeléctrica en España en las últimas décadas ha sido siempre creciente, aunque la participación de ésta en el total de eléctrica producida ha ido disminuyendo. Las modernas tecnologías de regulación y control han aumentado la eficiencia de las centrales y del aprovechamiento del recurso agua.

Representative Life-Cycle Inventories (LCIs) are essential for Life-Cycle Assessments (LCAs) quality and readiness. Because energy is such an important element of LCAs, appropriate LCIs on energy are crucial, and due to the prevalence of hydropower on Brazilian electricity mix, the frequently used LCIs are not representative of the Brazilian conditions. The present study developed a LCI of the Itaipu Hydropower Plant, the major hydropower plant in the world, responsible for producing 23.8% of Brazil's electricity consumption. Focused on the capital investments to construct and operate the dam, the LCI was designed to serve as a database for the LCAs of Brazilian hydroelectricity production. The life-cycle boundaries encompass the construction and operation of the dam, as well as the life-cycles of the most important material and energy consumptions (cement, steel, copper, diesel oil, lubricant oil), as well as construction site operation, emissions from reservoir flooding, material and workers transportation, and earthworks. As a result, besides the presented inventory, it was possible to determine the following processes, and respective environmental burdens as the most important life-cycle hotspots: reservoir filling (CO 2 and CH 4 emission; land use); steel life-cycle (water and energy consumption; CO, particulates, SO x and NO x emissions); cement life-cycle (water and energy consumption; CO 2 and particulate emissions); and operation of civil construction machines (diesel consumption; NO x emissions). Compared with another hydropower studies, the LCI showed magnitude adequacy, with better results than small hydropower, which reveals a scale economy for material and energy exchanges in the case of Itaipu Power Plant.

The renewable generation is one of the fast growing power system .Whereas the world is facing the challenge of effectively exploiting and utilizing renewable energy resources, not only to meet the increasing energy demand, but also to preserve and to reduce the depletion of fossil fuels and to lessen the amount of CO2 emissions in our atmosphere .The national energy generation resources of every country plays an important role in the development. The energy transition is well underway in most European countries. It has a growing impact on electric power systems as it dramatically modifies the way electricity is produced. In this paper, our focus is to perform a systematic review of hydropower resource potential around the Globe. In this study we will address three research queries: 1) what is the existing status of hydropower resource potential around the globe? 2) What kind of methodologies frameworks and approaches are used for exploiting and utilizing renewable energy resources 3) What are the limitations of exploiting renewable resource potentials. The purpose of the study is to highlight the current research issues, to provide valid solutions to these issues and to find out the limitations of existing work in this area of hydropower resource potential. This will be done by performing quantitative literature analysis of different databases and all the results will be gathered by analysing the statistical data using "SPSS". Remedial techniques for handling the limitation of usability engineering management will be planned in future.

In the 1950s Canada and the United States, along with Ontario and New
York State (and their respective power entities), completed two hydro-electric
developments: the International Niagara Control Works and the St. Lawrence
Seaway and Power Project. Both water control projects—and the concomitant
large-scale environmental manipulation of these borderland waterscapes—were
shaped by “hydraulic nationalism” and “hydro tourism.” This study explores
the tourist infrastructure and recreational facilities created to accommodate
the millions of people who viewed these megaprojects. Blending tourism history
with environmental, technological, cultural, transnational, and borderlands
approaches, it gives consideration to the ways in which the involved governments
and power utilities had similar, and diverging, conceptions of the nation-building
importance of the St. Lawrence and Niagara undertakings.

What happens to rural communities in remote raw materials-rich regions when their definitions of the region's natural resources are confronted with competing and incompatible definitions presented and enforced by external actors? The social constructionist approach in environmental sociology provides an essential counterbalance to environmental determinism, but this article argues that in many contexts social construction is actually a process of the imposition of external actors' material interests over the objections of local groups. New historical materialism, via an interdisciplinary and multimethod research strategy, analyzes the changing definitions and uses of the Brazilian Amazon as a revelatory case study of the political economy and ecology of this process and its consequences for nature, rural communities, and indigenous peoples.

The pump storage technique allows the use of cheap thermal electricity at periods of low demand to restore water resources that can be used to generate electricity at periods of peak demand. When the thermal plant and the hydro plant are managed by the same operator, the two plants are used in an efficient way to substitute low cost fuel for high cost fuel. The paper first analyzes the efficient use of the technology when the outputs at each period are given. We determine the frontier between the storage and no-storage solutions and its sensibility to cost variations. We then determine the optimal dispatch given the intertemporal preferences of electricity consumers. The model gives emphasis to the economic driver of the technology that is the net social gain from transferring social surplus from off peak to peak period.

Underinvestment, low levels of electricity access, natural disasters, topography and hydrology make Nepal's electricity crisis akin to 'peeling a pickle': difficult to pin down and hard to manage. Based primarily on the perceptions of a sample of experts, this article lays out a roadmap for how the 'pickle' of the Nepali electricity crisis can be peeled. Drawing on primary data collection from research interviews, the study offers a brief summary of the Nepali electricity and energy sectors. It then details six separate electricity challenges identified by respondents-topography and climate; political instability resulting from the aftermath of the Maoist insurgency; poverty and corruption; lack of financing and investment; constrained technological and human resources; and, finally, aid dependency and political manoeuvring. We conclude by calling on Nepali policymakers to invest in distributed generation, transmission upgrades, seasonal hydroelectric storage and industrial energy efficiency practices, and to introduce electricity tariff reforms, among other measures.

Hydropower is the most advanced and mature renewable energy technology and provides some level of electricity generation in many countries worldwide. As hydropower does not consume or pollute the water it uses to generate power, it leaves this vital resource available for other uses. The objective of this article is to identify and analyse issues that are imperative for hydropower energy development in Australia. This study shows opportunities for further hydroelectricity generation in Australia are offered by refurbishment and efficiency improvements at existing hydroelectricity plants, and continued growth of small-scale hydroelectricity plants connected to the grid.

Feitosa, G.S., P.M.L.A. Graça & P.M. Fearnside. 2015. Estimativa da zona de deplecionamento da hidrelétrica de Balbina por técnica de sensoriamento remoto . pp. 127-133. In: P.M. Fearnside (ed.) Hidrelétricas na Amazônia: Impactos Ambientais e Sociais na Tomada de Decisões sobre Grandes Obras. Vol. 1. Editora do Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Manaus, Amazonas, Brasil. 296 pp. ISBN: 978-85-211-0143-7 [Republicado de: Feitosa, G.S., P.M.L.A. Graça & P.M. Fearnside. 2007. Estimativa da zona de deplecionamento da hidrelétrica de Balbina por técnica de sensoriamento remoto pp. 6713 – 6720 In: J.C.N. Epiphanio, L.S. Galvão & L.M.G. Fonseca (eds.) Anais XIII Simpósio Brasileiro de Sensoriamento Remoto, Florianópolis, Brasil 21-26 abril 2007. Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE), São José dos Campos-São Paulo]

Unlike most accounts of the origins of Silicon Valley, this essay insists that the valley today is rooted in the Gold Rush, and only through understanding this can scholars fully comprehend the roots of the innovation process that so characterizes the region today. The Gold Rush began a long gestation period in the region’s technical sciences that, with its physical, economic and geographic characteristics, comprised a petri dish in which innovations flourished. Early on communities of interest emerged among the original Argonauts around hydraulic engineering and among later adventurers around hydroelectric power, electric-power transmission, radio technology and microwave electronics. Over the years their members included mechanics, inventors, engineers, academics and entrepreneurs, and they found like-minded souls in San Francisco Bay Area technical and scientific organizations, social clubs and educational institutions, where they all overlapped with each other and created the foundations for the modern Silicon Valley.

The aim of this work is to develop and evaluate a mathematical model for the process of storing hydrogen obtained from hydroelectricity via electrolysis, for use as an energetic vector in rural areas of Venezuela. Following an exhaustive bibliographical review of the subject, pressurized containers were chosen as the most appropriate means of storage. The components of the compressed H 2 gas storage systems to be modelled are 1) the Compression Unit, CU, and 2) the Storage Unit, SU. With this information and by using non-linear regression methods, we developed a mathematical model with which to study the behaviour of the main variables involved in the storage process: the quantity of H 2 to be stored, the storage pressure, energy consumption, the size of the compressor, and the unit cost of the containers. In structural terms, the mathematical model comprises an energy model and a financial model. The results show that there is a range of operating conditions with a minimal overall cost, as a result of the behaviour of the investment cost, which define how the total costs evolve.

A large-scale, high-resolution, fully coupled hydrological/reservoir/hydroelectricity model is used to investigate the impacts of climate change on hydroelectricity generation and hydropower potential of non-powered dams across the Northeast United States megaregion with 11,037 dams and 375 hydroelectric power plants. The model is calibrated and validated using the U.S. Department of Energy records. Annual hydroelectricity generation in the region is 41 Terawatt-hours (Twh). Our estimate of the hydropower potential of non-powered dams adds up to 350 Twh. West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York have significant potential for generating more hydroelectricity from already existing dams. On the other hand, this potential virtually does not exist for Rhode Island and Delaware and is small for New Jersey and Vermont. Climate change may reduce annual hydropower potential from non-powered dams by up to 13% and reduce current annual hydroelectricity generation by up to 8% annually. Increased rainfall in winters and earlier snowmelt in springs result in an increase in regional water availability in December through March. In other months, reduced precipitation and increased potential evapotranspiration rates combined with reduced recharge from the shift in spring snowmelt and smaller snowpack result in a decrease in availability of water and thus hydroelectricity generation. This changes call for the recalibration of dam operations and may raise conflict of interests in multipurpose dams.

The flow duration curve (FDC) of a riveris one of the important parameters for the hydrological investigation of hydroelectric plants. Computation of the hydroelectric plant capacity and power production requires the determination of relative and cumulative frequenciesof different river discharges. Ab-Terki is one of the sub-basins of Bazoft River, located in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, Iran, next to Koohrang basin. It is located between eastern longitudes of 49ᵒ54' to 50ᵒ 5' and northern latitudes of 32ᵒ 19' to 32ᵒ 24'. Morphological conditions, sloping limestone structures, and characteristics of karstic cracks in the basin have led to the formation of large springs in the eastern and western foothills of Zardkooh Mountain. In order to determine the FDCs of Ab-Terki River,3-year daily discharge and 24-year mean monthly discharge of Gooshe-pol station were used. Then, the probabilities of discharges were analyzed using Hyfa and Rank Plot numerical codes and finally, the discharge of Ab-Terki River corresponding to 95% probability was determined.

The paper reviews the economic incentives for the development of renewable energy sources (RES) in Italy, in particular the hydroelectricity. The review addresses the impacts of the hydropower development incentivised by the Green Energy Certificates (GEC). The GEC have been introduced by the Bersani Decree (law 79/99) back in 1999 and modified since. In 2011 the Italian Government decided the phase out the compliance market with GEC and substitute it with a system of auctions. In the paper we discuss the performance of the GEC in light of the similar economic instruments put in place elsewhere in Europe.

This issue of the Journal of Cleaner Production is based upon papers presented at the 1st International Workshop Advances in Cleaner Production (CP) held in São Paulo, Brazil, in 2007. The conference had the short-term purpose of deepening the Brazilian discussion on ''The Roles of Cleaner Production in the Sustainable Development of Modern Societies'', and it had the long-term objective of providing an ongoing interdisciplinary forum for knowledge development and exchange on Cleaner Production (CP) and Sustainable Development. This issue is devoted to papers covering a broad range of perspectives of CP practices and strategies. A special focus is placed upon methodological tools designed to support effective decision-making pertaining to quantitative benefits from CP. The ten papers provide insights from research designed to holistically integrate CP to help society make effective progress to sustainability. Papers cover the importance of informal knowledge, as complementary to formal knowledge, in performing effective 'Environmental Impact Assessments.' One paper explores the roles of radical and incremental innovation in the context of alternative automotive technologies. Benefits of Ecodesign are explored in two papers; one concerning its integration with remanufacturing to extend the life of used products and one focusing the adoption of 'Emergy Environmental Accounting,' as a complementary decision-making tool. The development of the Brazilian LCI database for 'hydroelectric power generation' and its contribution to support regionally relevant LCA studies is highlighted in one paper. The complete production chains of biodiesel and bioethanol are evaluated by using global methodologies, which help in the development of more objective and effective solutions. A ''compensatory area'', calculated in terms of emergy, is proposed in order to work in a sustainable way for bamboo production. Finally, a paper about a novel approach for recycling used PET is also included.

Laos, which in many respects is Thailand's most important neighbor, contributes greatly to its electricity security. More than 50 percent of the electricity in northeastern Thailand comes from Laos. Thus, electricity has become the main product which impacts the relationship between Thailand and Laos. Interestingly, Thailand's Electricity Generating Authority (EGAT) plays a very important role in linking and sustaining this relationship. This article aims to analyze Thailand's energy security and foreign policy with respect to Laos through the action of Thai state enterprises by focusing EGAT's role as an important intermediary in these policies. The study used qualitative research to find answers through primary and secondary resources. It found that the hydroelectric power in Laos is very important for Thailand, especially in the Northeast region. EGAT has played a significant role in establishing a framework for electricity policy relations between Thailand and Laos.This actor has never been mentioned before as a key player in foreign policy. This article recommends that Thailand still needs to reduce its dependence on a foreign power by strengthening its domestic electricity security, especially in the Northeast.

In large man-made reservoirs such as those resulting from hydroelectric dam construction, bacteria transform the relatively harmless inorganic mercury naturally present in soil and the submerged plant matter into toxic methylmercury. Methylmercury then enters food webs and can accumulate in organisms at higher trophic levels. Bats feeding on insects emerging from aquatic systems can show accumulation of mercury consumed through their insect prey. In this study, we investigated whether the concentration of mercury in the fur of insectivorous bat species was significantly higher than that in the fur of frugivorous bat species, sampled near hydroelectric reservoirs in Peninsular Malaysia. Bats were sampled at Temenggor Lake and Kenyir Lake and fur samples from the most abundant genera of the two feeding guilds-insectivorous (Hipposideros and Rhinolophus) and frugivorous (Cynopterus and Megaerops) were collected for mercury analysis. We found significantly higher concentrations of total mercury in the fur of insectivorous bats. Mercury concentrations also differed significantly between insectivorous bats sampled at the two sites, with bats from Kenyir Lake, the younger reservoir, showing higher mercury concentrations, and between the insectivorous genera, with Hipposideros bats showing higher mercury concentrations. Ten bats (H. cf. larvatus) sampled at Kenyir Lake had mercury concentrations approaching or exceeding 10 mg/kg, which is the threshold at which detrimental effects occur in humans, bats and mice.

Turbines are playing a massive role in our day-today lives in the back-end portion of lifestyles where they have been efficiently providing us energy through tidal, hydrological, and many such other mediums. A dominant explanation for the need for energy production has been introduced in the 1800s since the requirement for a high consumption of energy in various forms has started taking place. A very common method that has been observed in today's innovative mannerism is the use of turbines in dams, undersea, elsewhere at locations where the flow of fluid induces better outputs. Vertical axis turbines, Francis turbines as well as Kaplan turbines have frequently opted for such purposes but after studying over 65 works done by adepts, professionals, and experts; the purposely implemented input that is required to fulfill the output doesn't have to always be a necessity, it seemed to be the new designing restructured platform for users as well as providers. An overture to install micro versioned turbines of macro hydroelectric power plants within a residential or commercial structure at the main water-supply connections either at their junctions or directly near the overhead water tanks cannot just provide subtle but fortifying and tireless inputs since the flow of water will be anticipated naturally by the implicated outcomes through day-today chores performed. Hydrokinetic conversion systems may appear suitable in harvesting energy from such renewable resources, despite the fact that they are still in the early stages of development. Contrary to what has been assumed, there are numerous possibilities for the utilization of this energy for common areas/public zones such as signals, street lights, or any such productive amenities to bestow leading-edge facilities without any hitch regarding external contriving inputs.