Marc Morego Grade 10 Red

Tech

Guiding questions:

1. Whats hydroelectic power and how does it work?
Hydroelectric power is one of the few renewable sources we have in the earth. Water from a
river is stored in a reservoir, after a while the water is released and flows through a turbine
which spins really fast, when the water is in there for a while it activates a generator to produce
the electricity. It is really good for the enviromnent since it doesnt damage it and it is a
renewable source.

2. How much energy does hydroelectric power plants produce?
Hydroelectric power is a renewable source so it isnt the main source of energy in the world
which means that it doesnt produce that much energy as nuclear power or burning coal does.
However it produces 3,427 terawatts per hour which is almos 17% of domestic electricity use.
However a micro-hydroelectric power system can produce enough energy for a house, farm or
ranch, which is good enough to power a speed boat.
3. How much does it cost to produce hydroelectric energy?
Hydroelectric power is very efficient and inexpensive it converts 90% of the available energy
into electricity when fossil fuels only convert aobut 50% perfent of the energy. It costs 0.7 cents
per kilowatt which is one third the cost of using fossil fuels or nuclear power and one sixth of
using nuclear gas.
4. Can you use hydroelectric power to power boats?
yes it can, it is called micro hydroelectric power it is used by a lot of moving water sources. And
it works by using a small water turbine fed from a river of stream. And it gatheres consistent
energy no matter how far you go.

5. How much energy does is it needed to power up a speed boat?
For a normal boat which wouldnt go so fast you would need around SHP of 3 to go at 3.0 knots
(boat speed), however to power a speed boat to go really fast at around 11.0 knots you would
need about 115 SHP. However the boat is using hydroelectric power not a motor so the energy
type is different for a normal boat to go at 3.0 knots you would need a propulsion of 1.7
kilowats, for a speed boat to go at 11.0 knots you would need 85.1 kilowatts. But because it is
an energy system using water the batery will never go off since while the boat is running its
recharging itself.

6. Are there any disadvantages on using hydroelectric power on boats?

There is nothing really wrong, the only thing is that it is really hard to make and it would cost
quite a lot of money to make and not a lot of people would be ablt to afford it, however in a few
years when we develop its technology the prices will go down and more people will be able to
buy it. If were talking about enviromental problems, it doesnt have any, once the micro
hydroelectric power turbine is installed there is nothing that can go wrong except that the
turbine breaks. However, it will be good for the enviromnent and it wont damage the earth















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