The source of life on earth

 Water - the source of life on earth. This is one of the most unique and exciting events on our planet, which has many unique properties, the use of which can be very beneficial and helpful to humans. The energy of the water, exactly as the energy of the sun or air, a renewable energy source, so necessary in the circumstances. Everyone understands that internal resources are not limitless Earth and sooner or later they run out (and, given the growing "appetite" of humanity, it will happen sooner rather than later). Therefore the problem of finding alternative energy sources is so important today, and the water offers us one of the solutions to this problem.
 Thus, the energy of water is perhaps one of the first energy that people have learned to exploit. Recall at least the first river mill. Their work is simple and at the same time a genius: a moving stream of water rotates the wheel, converting the kinetic energy of water into mechanical wheel. Essentially all modern hydroelectric work exactly the same way. With one important addition: continue to mechanical energy is converted into electrical energy.



Energy of water can be roughly divided into three types according to its type, in which it is converted:

  1. The energy of tides / tide. In general, the phenomenon is very interesting and low tide for a long time, it could not possibly be explained. Large massive (and of course close to the Earth) space objects like the Moon or the Sun, its gravitational effect leads to an uneven distribution of water in the ocean, creating a "hump" of the water. Due to the rotation of the earth begins to move these "humps" and move them to the coast. But because of that the Earth's rotation, the position of the moon relative to the ocean changes, thereby reducing the effect of gravity.
      At high tide filled in special containers, which are located on the shoreline. Reservoirs formed by dams. During low tide, the water begins its retrograde motion, which is used to turn turbines, and energy conversion. It is important that the height difference during high tide and low tide was as much as possible, otherwise such a station simply can not be justified. Therefore, tidal power plants are usually in tight places where the tide reaches a height of at least 10 meters. For example tidal station in France at the mouth of the river earlier.
But these stations have its drawbacks: the creation of the dam leads to an increase in the amplitude of the tides from the ocean, and this entails a land flooded with salt water. As a consequence - the change of flora and fauna of the biological system, and not in the best possible way.

      2. The energy of ocean waves. Despite the fact that the nature of this energy is very similar to the above, it nevertheless decided to allocate a separate branch. This type of energy has a relatively high specific power (approximate capacity of the ocean waves as high as 15 kW / m). If the wave height is about two meters, this value could increase to 80 kW / m Of course, this idealized data, because all the energy to translate emotion into electricity fails, but all the same conversion rate is quite high - 85%.
To date, the use of energy waves of the sea is not very common because of a number of difficulties that arise when creating installations. While this area is only at the stage of experimental research.


      3. Hydroelectric power plants. And this type of energy has become available to a person through the joint "work" of three elements: water, air, and of course the sun. The sun evaporates from the surface of lakes, seas and oceans, water, forming clouds. Wind moves the gaseous water to elevated areas, where it condenses, falling as rain begins to flow back to their original sources. On the way these threads are put hydroelectric power, which intercept the energy of falling water and convert it into electricity. The power generated by the station, depending on the height of the fall of the water, so the hydroelectric dams began to be created. They also allow you to adjust the flow rate. Of course the creation of such a huge building is very expensive, but the HPS is fully pays for itself by inexhaustible resource use and free access to it.
      In this type of energy, by analogy with the other, there are both pluses and minuses. Just as in the case of tidal energy, hydropower leads to the creation of flooding a large area and irreparable damage to native fauna. But even with this in mind, we can talk about high ecological HPS: they cause only local damage, without polluting the atmosphere. In an effort to reduce the damage to the stations being developed more and more new methods of their work is constantly improving the design of turbines themselves. One of the proposed methods has been "pumping up" the battery. The water that passes through the turbine is not leaked any further, and stored in large tanks. When the load on the hydroelectric power station is minimal due to the energy of nuclear or thermal power plant stored water is pumped back up and everything is repeated. This method benefits both for environmental and for economic performance.
Another very interesting area of ​​the experts came up with the Atomic Energy Commission in Grenoble, France. They propose to use the energy of falling rain! Each falling drop has its impact. Getting on the piezoceramic element, it affects him physically, which leads to the emergence of electric potential. Further, the electric charge is modified (as in microphones electrical signal is converted to vibrations). Due to the variety of their forms, the water has a truly enormous energy potential.
To date, hydropower is a very well developed and accounts for 25% of global electricity production, and given the pace of development we can safely say that it is a very promising direct