Introduction

Sailing Crazy!
Mrs. Wonacott
18 Apr. 2008.
Pathfinder

These days, everybody seems to be worried about the environment. We’re all trying to find some amazing form of clean energy that has a very small affect on the local and worldly environment. The thing is, we have already found one. This is a simple and easy way to produce electricity without a big carbon footprint. Hydropower is produced at a dam, where water is sent through a turbine to spin a generator to produce electricity. Hydroelectricity is a clean and renewable resource that can be produced on almost any river in the world.

Non-Print Source

Dams. DVD. South Burlington, 2000.

This movie talked about the basic history of dams, and gave basically a biography about some really well known dams, like Hoover Dam. It was good because it talked about spillways a little bit, but thats about all. It was bad because it was really inspecific. I think it was based towards a younger audience, but it was the best I could find. This movie helped my research by giving me information about different styles of spillways, but I ended up not using this information because it was too vague.

Book Resource

Washington State. Public Power Council. Power Planning Primer. Public Power Council, 1981.

This book talked about the basics of hydropower in the northwest. It also gave a lot of statistical information. It was a good resource because the information in it was relevant to the area that w live in. It’s disadvantages were that it didn’t relate a lot to what I needed, and it was kind of hard to find information in. This helped my research because it confirmed details that I already had, and gave me information about Mossyrock Dam.

Book Resource

United Staes. National Center for Appropriate Technology. Micro-hydro Power: Reviewing an Old Concept. Montana: National Center for Appropriate Technology, 1979.

This book talked about micro-hydro projects, and how someone could build their own micro-project. It was good because it talked about the conditions that you need to build a hydro-electric power project of any size, and how to adapt to the conditions that are in place. It was bad because it talked mostly about micro-projects, so it was kind of hard to determine what applied to hydroprojects of a larger scale. This book assisted my research because it gave me information about the turbines, and a basic description of how they work.

Book Resources

United States. Department of the Interior. Design of Small Dams. Washington DC: GPO, 1987.

This book talked about almost everything that you could ever know about small dams. This was good because it was very specific and clarified a lot of my information. The bad thing about this book was that since it is so big and detailed, it was kind of hard to find the information that I needed. This book helped me because it clarified all of my information, and it gave me information on the conditions that need to exist for a hydroproject to be affective and efficient.

Periodical Resource

Anonymous. "Despite Economics, FERC Says Dams Should Stay." Econews Dec. 2007. 14 Apr. 2008 <http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1413326481&sid=9&Fmt=3&clientId=23999&RQT=309&VName=PQD>
This article talks about the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) inspection and evaluation of a dam. This article was good because it gave a background on FERC. It was kind of bad because it wasn't very relevant to what I was looking for. It helped my research because it gave me information about FERC.

Periodical Resource

Anonymous. "End of a dammed nuisance." The Economist 8 Mar. 2008. 16 Apr. 2008 <http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1443102791&sid=5&Fmt=3&clientId=23999&RQT=309&VName=PQD>

The author is anonymous. This article talks about alternatives to dams in hydropower, like current turbines. It also gives details about the disadvantages of dams, like their affect on salmon runs. This article helped me by confirming a lot of things about the environmental effect of dams. Also it gave me information on alternative forms of hydropower.

Periodical Resources

Cornwall, Warren. "A rosy outlook for area water supply; Unusually wet year | Winter snowstorms, cool March helped big snowpacks." Seattle Times 10 Apr. 2008: B1
Warren Cornwall is a staff reporter for the Seattle Times, working in the title of Environment Reporter. HE works with the Local News Desk in the Seattle Times. This article talks about the snowpack on Mt. Rainier, and how it affects the local rivers. This was good because it was local, so I was more sure of what exactly he talked about. The only problem was that it didn't give a lot of new information, but it confirmed several details, like how dams store water and release it again. This article helped me because it confirmed details about water storage, and gave me a few statistics, but they weren't really important enough to include in my essay.

Reference Source

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. 888 First Street, NE
Washington, DC 20426 Telephone: (202) 502-8000 Email: accessiblity@ferc.gov

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was helpful to me because it provided me with an overview of the regulations that hydro-projects have to abide by. Also, they confirmed details that I had gained from my previous resources.

Reference Source

"Hydroelectric Energy Production by Country." Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. 2008. Grolier Online. 14 Apr. 2008 .

This table gives specific numbers about hydropower's use and distribution throughout the world. It also talked about the potential energy of each country. This table was useful to me because it confirmed details from previous articles that I had read, and it gave me an idea of how much hydroelectricity is produced and could be produced.