Hydroelectric Power Production

Introduction

    It is the year 2055. The general consensus among the scientific community is that the worldwide resources of fossil fuels are almost barren.  This has caused the development of an alternative resource to be more imperative than ever before. One such alternative resource is hydroelectric power.

         Statistics from the early twenty-first century say that the U.S. has been getting only about ten percent of its energy from hydroelectricity. However, other countries -such as Brazil and Canada- have been getting a far greater percentage of their energy from hydroelectric power. As early as the twenty-first century, Brazil has been getting ninety percent of its energy from hydroelectric plants; Canada has been getting two-thirds of its energy. This shows that other countries have been making good use of this energy source. Maybe it is time for the U.S. to do so as well.

Task

    As one of the leading members of the scientific community in the U.S., you have been assigned a task by the U.S. Department of the Interior. Your task is to determine if increasing the use of hydroelectric power can help assuage or lessen the impending energy crisis.

    In this web quest you will have to read all the research provided on hydroelectric energy. You will then determine, after evaluating the pros and cons, if it could be part of the solution to the energy crisis presented in the introduction. Remember to evaluate both sides of the research. You will then write a recommendation for or against an increase in the use of hydroelectricity. Remember to write a clear thesis statement and to include five pieces of evidence based on the research.  

Process

   It is time for the U.S. to decide if hydroelectricity is part of the solution. Your recommendation will have great influence in determining this. However, before writing your recommendation you need to do your research. You will do this by viewing all five of the following links. If you desire, you may open a Word Document or use a piece of paper to record the pros and cons that you find.

 1) https://water.usgs.gov/edu/hyhowworks.html

2) https://www.nwcouncil.org/reports/columbia-river-history/damsimpacts

3) http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/engineering/dams.html

4)  https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/hydropower/tech.html

5) https://www.britannica.com/science/hydroelectric-power

6) http://www.darvill.clara.net/altenerg/hydro.htm

    After reading the links provided, you will brainstorm for about ten minutes. This technique should help you organize the different thoughts in your head. For further information on the technique of brainstorming visit:  http://webquest.sdsu.edu/processguides/brainstorming.html.   

    After brainstorming you should decide if you are for or against an increase in hydroelectric power. Take this time to write your thesis statement.

    Now that you have written your thesis, start writing the rough draft. Don’t worry about spelling or grammatical errors while doing this. Just concentrate on the content of the information. Take about fifteen minutes to do this.

    Next, read the recommendation that you have just written and try to fix the finer points. You should concentrate on paragraph construction, spelling, and grammar. Take about five minutes to do this.

The recommendation must be at least one paragraph long. Be wary of writing one that is too long, because you only have 20 minutes to write a rough draft and to fix your errors. Furthermore, keep in mind that a quality statement is more effective than a rambled one.

    You are now finished with the activity part of the web quest. You will now evaluate it to determine how well you have followed the instructions. Take your recommendation and click on the evaluation link. Then evaluate your statement as impartially as possible.

Evaluation

Conclusion

    The scenario presented in this web quest may seem unrealistic, or even silly. However, the truth of the matter is that unless we start to look for alternative energy resources now, we may encounter such a situation in the future. Experts believe that we have about 50 years until we deplete our fossil fuel resources. Fifty years is a long time. Definitely long enough to develop a replacement energy source. However, unless more funding is devoted to developing these renewable resources we may find ourselves in the midst of such an energy crisis in the future.  

    Furthermore, as individuals we need to realize that the energy that we often waste may not last forever. This is why we should ensure that it is not wasted. Instead, we should treat it more preciously. Doing little things such as turning off unnecessary lights, or walking/riding a bicycle whenever possible -instead of driving- can make a big difference. Our individual efforts can go a long way in delaying the imminent depletion of fossil fuels. With an increased awareness of our extravagant use of energy and greater emphasis on the development of a renewable resource, we can ensure that such a scenario never takes place.     

Take a minute or two to think of other ways you can conserve energy.

Credits

    This web quest would not have been made possible without the contributions from numerous websites. These include the Arizona State University website, the U.S. Department of Energy website, the website created by the students of Sir Francis Drake High School, the Wisconsin Valley Improvement Company website, the website created by Andy Darvill, and last -but definitely not the least- http://questgarden.com.

    Thanks to Wikimedia Commons , Flickr Creative Commons, and American Memory for the pictures in this web quest. Also thanks to www.picnik.com for enabling the reduction in size of these pictures.

Permissions

We all benefit by being generous with our work. Permission is granted for others to use and modify this WebQuest for educational, non-commercial purposes as long as the original authorship is credited. The modified WebQuest may be shared only under the same conditions. See the Creative Commons Attribution • Non-Commercial • Share-Alike license for details.