As international concerns grow over carbon emissions, it is tempting to think that hydroelectric power could provide a solution to the problem of how to generate clean energy.
After all, hydro power is a form of renewable energy. Rather than burn fossil fuels to generate electricity, it harnesses the power of falling or flowing water to turn turbines. Unlike wind power, hydro power can generate electricity on a grand scale, as shown by projects such as the 12,600-megawatt Itaipú Dam power plant on the border of Brazil and Paraguay. And unlike new technologies such as wave power, hydroelectricity is a proven source of power that has been widely used for more than a century. In 1870, the pioneering Victorian engineer William Armstrong became the first person to light his house, the Cragside Estate in Northumberland, with hydroelectricity after building two artificial lakes and a pumphouse.
