Generating Electricity Flashcards
What are the advantages for wind power?
It is a renewable energy resource. There are no fuel costs. No harmful polluting gases are produced.
What are the disadvantages for wind power?
Wind farms are noisy and may spoil the view for people living near them.
The amount of electricity generated depends on the strength of the wind.
If there is no wind, there is no electricity.
What are the advantages for hydroelectric power?
Reliable, renewable, long lasting ( little to no costs)
Disadvantages of hydroelectric energy?
Impact on wildlife:
When dams are created fish can sometimes no longer reach their breeding ground, which in turn affects all other species which rely on fish as their food. Dams also prevent water from flowing, this causes riverside habitats to slowly disappear. This can even stop animals from accessing water supplies.
Limited plant locations:
Hydropower plants can only be built in certain places, for instance, it is ideal to have steep fast flowing rivers. Additionally, where these kinds of rivers can be found, there are not often major cities which are who actually benefit from this production of hydropower.
Carbon and methane emissions:
whilst the actual plants themselves don’t produce emissions, the reservoirs which they create do. Plants which are at the bottom of a reservoir begin to decompose, and die as they decompose they release a lot of methane and carbon dioxide, removing these carbon sinks also contributes to the overall amount of carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere.
