Jump to content

Create a Free Account or Sign In to connect and share in green living and alternative energy forum discussions.

Small hydropower plants keep it local


 
17 replies to this topic

#1 Hayden

Hayden

    Admin

  • Global Moderator
  • 1,489 posts 72 rep

Posted 28 September 2011 - 10:56 AM

Among renewable energy advocates in Japan, one often hears the phrase "chisan chissho," or "local production, local consumption." In the past, it referred the promotion of local-level agriculture. But it's now becoming a call to reduce municipalities' reliance on electricity from fossil fuel and nuclear power plants hundreds of kilometers away. Small hydropower plants represent the local ...

View the full article

#2 missusyessum

missusyessum

    Curious

  • Shifter
  • 42 posts 2 rep

Posted 05 October 2011 - 11:56 AM

This is a very interesting read, thanks a lot for sharing. I have heard about hydropower plants being used in Japan before however I was not aware about the issues they were having with it. I would have to agree that having small hydropower plants lessens the chance of damming up large rivers however it is also true that it's quite difficult to find locations that has a stable water flow. This makes it challenging for the government to introduce and promote small scale hydropower plants. I guess more work and research should be done.

#3 zararina

zararina

    Activist

  • Veteran Shifter
  • 660 posts 19 rep

Posted 06 October 2011 - 06:44 AM

I believe that there are also some small hydro plants on a province here. It gets the current from a waterfall. And the energy from it was enough to supply the few households there and some small machines use in agriculture. So true that choosing a location could be a problem and thus it limit the number of hydro plants that can be created.

#4 Don

Don

    Curious

  • Shifter
  • 31 posts 2 rep

Posted 07 October 2011 - 08:40 PM

Local production and use sound like great ideas, and there are things similar in the United States, but not really too much the same. They are local energy collectives, where the purchasers of the power and other services are essentially "Stockholders" of the collective. We pay into it and receive the services as well as bargaining power and a vote when some major decision comes up.

Of course, getting right on to hydro power, I remember that we had a dam in a neighborhood near where I grew up that produced power for the local area- couple of schools, fire station and maybe two or three businesses. It got to the point that the fish were dieing and the dam was crumbling, so rather than fix it, they decided to dynamite it. Very cool to watch!

#5 kate

kate

Posted 22 October 2011 - 08:44 PM

I was surprised to discover that my little town owes its heyday growth to hydroelectric power.  First, it was a mill town, in the 1850s.  The mill still stands,right in the heart of downtown, restored by local historical buffs, complete with working waterwheel and grinding stones, open to the public most of the summer. We later became a big carriage and furniture manufacturing town because someone harnessed the energy of the swift-flowing creek that races downhill from one end of town to the other before it spills into the big river. A natural waterfall downtown powered several local companies, one that built zinc harness collars for horses, as well as the fire department.  Gradually,water power fell out of favor, although we still have a hydroelectric power plant and a good-sized dam in place. Tragically, in the 1960s, the town paved over the wonderful little creek that provided it such prosperity. In a single generation, manufacturing was gone.  The business district and industrial district looked like ghost towns.
A few years ago, folks trying to revitalize the tiny downtown actually tore up the pavement. Now the creek flows directly through town once again. Another group raised money to tear out the cement spillway and restored the waterfall.  Now you can fish for big salmon right in the center of town.

#6 gangandealer

gangandealer

    Regular

  • Shifter
  • 58 posts 2 rep

Posted 25 October 2011 - 09:16 AM

It's good that the idea of consuming energy locally is starting to rise. If energy is being sent over hundreds of kiloemetres, then it is a huge waste of energy trying to transfer it all over.

#7 kate

kate

Posted 26 October 2011 - 03:13 PM

View Postgangandealer, on 25 October 2011 - 09:16 AM, said:

It's good that the idea of consuming energy locally is starting to rise. If energy is being sent over hundreds of kiloemetres, then it is a huge waste of energy trying to transfer it all over.

I know! But I wonder if an entire generation or two has forgotten (or perhaps never knew) that we ca produce energy locally and distribute it locally.  People have become so accustomed to massive distribution systems which not only are costly but are now falling apart in many places.  We never had to worry about the energy expended to produce and distribute energy, or what we'd do when the cost exceeds the benefits.

I'd guess we're pretty much there now Posted Image

#8 Germs

Germs

    Regular

  • Pro Shifter
  • 139 posts 1 rep

Posted 07 November 2011 - 09:14 AM

Interesting article, nice to see the increase in hydro power being used on a local scale, hopefully this can be used on a larger scale to provide even more green power for us all.

#9 mariaandrea

mariaandrea

    Activist

  • Veteran Shifter
  • 722 posts 146 rep

Posted 07 November 2011 - 08:29 PM

I think I want to live in kate's little town. :)

Great article. I'm a big proponent of local options for energy and agriculture. Energy transmissions over long distances isn't as efficient and every geographic area could use the best of what's available - hydro, wind, solar, biofuels, a combination of things... whatever works. I like being connected globally by technology to others around the world, but we also need to think about being connected to our local communities for our daily living needs.

#10 kate

kate

Posted 12 November 2011 - 05:28 AM

View Postmariaandrea, on 07 November 2011 - 08:29 PM, said:

I think I want to live in kate's little town. :)

Great article. I'm a big proponent of local options for energy and agriculture. Energy transmissions over long distances isn't as efficient and every geographic area could use the best of what's available - hydro, wind, solar, biofuels, a combination of things... whatever works. I like being connected globally by technology to others around the world, but we also need to think about being connected to our local communities for our daily living needs.

This is true!  Our little town is only a couple thousand people!  I live in an even smaller township about 6 miles out of town, and it's a very, very long and steep, hilly 6 miles during our winters!  No buses or taxis or anything like that, so we have to be ready to manage in place a lot of the time, hence a greater self-reliance around here, I think.  Daily living needs are generally stocked and stored.  Barter is big amongst the neighbors.  Canning is a way of life, saving up the abundance for later when fruits and veggies are scarce.  Lots of fishing and hunting here, too!

#11 Pushhyarag2000

Pushhyarag2000

    Regular

  • Pro Shifter
  • 141 posts 5 rep

Posted 14 December 2011 - 11:25 PM

Small hydro power plants ranging from 5-25 MW projects [according to the definition in the article, these would be called micro] are already coming up in areas that provide good access to water in my country. But again, their number is more in the northern states with major rivers in the Himalayan region as source. There is a range of hydro power plants that the government is encouraging-by providing subsidies to small entrepreneurs. They get not only financial help but also assurance on buy back of power generated.

#12 JBMedia

JBMedia

    Regular

  • Pro Shifter
  • 104 posts 3 rep

Posted 15 December 2011 - 04:43 PM

I personally think the more they can find areas to do this in, the better! Hyropower is a much more efficient way of producing energy compared to some of the ways we are using as of now. This was an interesting read, as I'm learning that hyrdopower is slowly becoming more and more popular.

#13 joeldgreat

joeldgreat

    Regular

  • Pro Shifter
  • 162 posts 6 rep

Posted 21 December 2011 - 02:32 PM

I had heard too about stories regarding small hydro-electric plants used to power-up small communities. I even had visited one small communities that runs on hyro-power. They turned a small portion of their river to generate electricity. And its working very well. It delivers power to more than a hundred houses. And the good thing is that each kilowatt is 75% much lower than those being sell by big electricity distributors. Another thing is that, the excess electricity was sell to these distributor, thus creating an income for the community. As this was formed from the communities' small cooperative, then they had benefited very well about this project. They also very active in protecting the river and been very vigilant for any activities that creates pollution on it.

#14 Shortpoet-GTD

Shortpoet-GTD

    Shifted

  • Validating
  • 8,025 posts 758 rep

Posted 21 December 2011 - 03:24 PM

And no one is concerned about the environmental damage that is done from building more dams?

#15 joeldgreat

joeldgreat

    Regular

  • Pro Shifter
  • 162 posts 6 rep

Posted 21 December 2011 - 03:34 PM

View PostShortpoet-GTD, on 21 December 2011 - 03:24 PM, said:

And no one is concerned about the environmental damage that is done from building more dams?

Yeah, it only happens when people constructing the dam had "money" on their mind. But if a dam is properly constructed with all the pro's and con's being taken care off (like what I had witnessed), it will eventually benefits the users. The dam that I said had only very minimal effect on the environment. Are area is well taken-care of by the community itself and so far I never heard a complaint about destruction of the natural resources and any nature imbalance.

#16 Shortpoet-GTD

Shortpoet-GTD

    Shifted

  • Validating
  • 8,025 posts 758 rep

Posted 21 December 2011 - 03:56 PM

View Postjoeldgreat, on 21 December 2011 - 03:34 PM, said:

Yeah, it only happens when people constructing the dam had "money" on their mind. But if a dam is properly constructed with all the pro's and con's being taken care off (like what I had witnessed), it will eventually benefits the users. The dam that I said had only very minimal effect on the environment. Are area is well taken-care of by the community itself and so far I never heard a complaint about destruction of the natural resources and any nature imbalance.
No offense, it wasn't a personal attack on you.
But too often, large dams have devastating effects. Thanks for the reply.

#17 jasserEnv

jasserEnv

    Activist

  • Pro Shifter
  • 406 posts 45 rep

Posted 31 December 2011 - 11:51 AM

In stream generation is another interesting alternative that has even fewer detrimental effects than a dam. I would personally enjoy seeing the placement of more of these sorts of energy generators in more locations along a river than see more damns being built. While we may think only of fish traversing such structures, there are other organisms that can also be affected. They may be affected directly by the blockage of the water flow or the lack of changes in flow over the course of a year. Having such a direct effect on flow can thus be very damaging to a river ecosystem.

#18 13tyates

13tyates

    Curious

  • Shifter
  • 25 posts 1 rep

Posted 02 February 2012 - 07:49 AM

I believe they have the right idea there, keeping it local and to the individual towns. I feel if that is done it will make it easier on a one to one basis. Power stops being produced at one of the mega plants? Guess what, millions of people out of power. If it is a city to city basis they will have a better chance of keeping the lights on. From that to other points it just seems like a great way to look at the production fo energy.

0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users