Canada Boosting Hydro Power to 88.5 GW to Replace US Coal

Canada’s hydropower industry has plans to invest up to $70 billion on hydro-electric projects across the country in the next 10 to 15 years, increasing its hydro-electric resources – to a truly staggering 88,500 MW.

Most of the additional projects are in provinces with abundant precipitation that is likely to increase in a warming future, making them ideal for hydropower. Hydro-electric power is much cleaner in cold climates than in warm ones, because methane emissions that are caused by rotting vegetation are lower in colder climates. Quebec is building another 4,570 MW, British Columbia: 3,341 MW, Labrador: 3,074 MW and Manitoba: 2,380 MW.

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Everything I need to know about hygroelectricity

At double the size of China’s Three Gorges Dam, the 40 GW Grand Inga hydropower project, to be built on the Congo River under an agreement between the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa, will be the world’s largest by a wide margin. It will increase Africa’s electricity generating capacity by one-third.

But as IPS News reports, as is unfortunately typical with many big-push style projects in the developing world, the local people will likely get little of the electricity produced by the Grand Inga.

Instead, the power transmission lines are expected to go towards mining and industrial facilities, towards the big cities in South Africa and Egypt, as well as possibly being exported to Europe.

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Everything I need to know about hygroelectricity

The researchers are trying hard to find new renewable sources of energy everyday and finally they have come up with a new renewable source of energy. After solar, wind, and water power the newest form of producing energy is the electricity collected from the air coulds.

Termed as hygroelectricity it came up at the national meeting of the Amercian Chemical Society of findings by scientist Fernando Galembeck and colleagues at the University of Campinas (Brazil). Galembeck challenged the old theory of water vapor in the air being electrically neutral. Through a series of experiments he proved that Silica and aluminum phosphate that are commonly found in air in a very humid atmosphere it appears that the water vapor can hold an electrical charge and pass it to the particles. This invention came like a revolution and now the scientists are striving hard to make this hygroelectricity a reality with which the whole world can benefit.

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The tiny mountain kingdom of Lesotho is to harness the power of wind and water in a $15bn (£9bn) green energy project, the biggest of its kind in Africa.

The Lesotho highlands power project (LHPP) will generate 6,000 megawatts (MW) of wind power and 4,000MW of hydropower, equivalent to about 5% of neighbouring South Africa’s electricity needs.

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With 42.3 GW of wind power installed, China has now become the new world leader in wind power, having overtaken the US, with 40.2 GW, which itself bypassed the longtime world leader Germany in 2008.

After four years of doubling its installed wind power capacity annually between 2006 and 2009, China added a record 16.5 GW in 2010. According to a detailed report(pdf) from the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, nearly 20% of all net additional power generation capacity in China is now wind power, nearly on par with its hydro. China now leads the world in large-scale hydropower with 21% of global production.

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Skipark 360° C.F. Møller’s Slope-Shaped Indoor Ski Resort Will Be Powered By Green Energy

Skipark 360°, the world’s most complete indoor ski resort, will soon rise up from the forests outside of Stockholm. The resort will be a man-made ski hill with a vertical drop of 160 meters (525 ft) and will be the only facility of its kind to meet the requirements of the World Cup. In addition to the downhill run, the complex will contain a 3.5 km cross-country skiing tunnel, an arena for biathlons, ice hockey, bandy and figure skating, a snow park for snowboarding and a resort and spa. The fun doesn’t stop there though. Designed by C.F. Møller, the entire resort will be powered by geothermal, solar, wind and hydropower and when it is completed it could be the greenest ski resort in the world.

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Renewable Energy Consumption Tops Nuclear for First Time

According to a new report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the consumption of engery from renewable sources recently topped both the current and the historical consumption levels for nuclear energy. The shift was immediately caused by nuclear outages that coincided with the high-water season for hydropower generation.

But there’s a long-term upward trend in renewables which can be seen here, too, thanks to the increased consumption of biofuels and wind capacity additions.

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A nanoengineered graphene coating could make it possible to generate hydroelectric power without disrupting river ecosystems. Humans have been harvesting the power of moving water for centuries, from waterwheel’s to hydroelectric dams. The only problem with most of these technologies is that they disrupt the natural path and speed of the water, creating conflict with the wildlife that lives in and around it.

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German railway system to be entirely powered by renewable hydroelectricity

German energy company RWE said it signed a 15-year deal with the country’s national railway company for renewable energy from hydroelectric power. RWE and railroad company Deutsche Bahn signed a 15-year supply contract for electricity from hydropower.

RWE said it supplies the railroad company with around 900 gigawatt-hours of electricity per year. That’s enough to meet the energy demands of around 250,000 German households every year.

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