Hydropower: The Solution to the World's Energy Problem

Hydropower is a very important form of renewable energy. It utilizes the earth's water cycle, generating electricity by harnessing stream and lake water's energy through water turbines. This form of energy does not require fossil fuels, nuclear or fusion energy to produce electricity, so it does not contribute to greenhouse gases.

As a typical water turbine system contains a great deal of oil in its bearing cooling and hydraulic systems, if the proper oil containment was in place, it could be considered one of the most environmentally friendly form of renewable energy. With about 20% of the world's energy being produced by Hydropower, why not simply build more turbines and install them in as many streams and rivers as possible solving the worlds energy crisis.

The greatest challenge associated with Hydropower is the effect on river habitat spawning habits. If the world was made up of multiple eco-systems, this may not be a big issue, but the world is one large eco-system. So if we stopped fish from spawning, we could wipe out species which are critical to the earth's long term survival.

The solution resides in the research of fish friendly turbines and fish ladders. Environmentalist and Wall Street will have to work together on finding a viable solution to one of the world's greatest challenges. The first step would be to have an environmentalist and capitalist sit in a board room and work together, which may be the greatest challenge of all.