hydro power

Today is my last day in the arctic. I have enjoyed my stay with the polar bears, but I feel sad for them. They have a lot of problems that are caused because of us. I just hope I can do something about it. I stepped out of my tent to see all the polar bears sitting there. The little kid yelled "we want to hear about hydro power". I laughed and sat down to talk about hydropower.

"Hydropower is getting electricity from water. We don't change the water in anyway. We just get the water to turn a turbine that produces electricity. One method we use is dropping water on a dam. At the bottom of a dam, they put turbines. When they drop the water on the turbines, the turbines spin, making electricity. (I'm making it easy for the kids to understand)
The ocean is not used much to produce energy so it is an idea that is at its starting stages. The U.S and other countries are trying to use ocean current energy. Some of these countries include China, Japan, and some European countries. But ocean current energy is at a very early stage for most of these countries. There are no commercial grid turbines that are now being used but there are some test machines. The largest tidal power station in the world is in the Rance estuary in the northern part of France. It is also the only one in Europe. There are many places in Europe with large currents but the side effects of turbines are the reason there isn't more than one tidal farm in Europe. But there is a plan for Scottish power to make a three megawatt tidal farm off the coast of Orkneys. I hope they will go along with the plan to make this tidal farm. Every little thing we do to use alternative energy will help you guys. Many oil companies advertise that they are also using alternative energy. I used to think that they were barely doing anything to help the environment. After all, they are the ones that are contributing to global warming. But doing just a little is okay. It's more than doing nothing. We always need those little baby steps before we go big. I just hope we get to go big. That's it. I'm done with everything. I hope all of you learned something about alternative energy. Maybe you smart bears can make a method to make electricity in the arctic." It was time to leave. I had to rush to the port so I could make it in time. The lecture went on longer than I expected, but I needed to tell them our efforts on making the earth clean.