Hydropower, hydraulic power or waterpower is power that is derived from the force or energy of moving water, which may be harnessed for useful purposes. Hydropower is using water to power machinery or make electricity. Water constantly moves through a vast global cycle, evaporating from lakes and oceans, forming clouds, precipitating as rain or snow, and then flowing back down to the ocean.
Published in Chapter:
Renewable Energy Technologies, Sustainable Development, and Environment
Abdeen Mustafa Omer (Energy Research Institute (ERI), UK)
Copyright: © 2015
|Pages: 35
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8433-1.ch008
Abstract
The move towards a low-carbon world, driven partly by climate science and partly by the business opportunities it offers, will need the promotion of environmentally friendly alternatives, if an acceptable stabilisation level of atmospheric carbon dioxide is to be achieved. This chapter presents a comprehensive review of energy sources, and the development of sustainable technologies to explore these energy sources. It also includes potential renewable energy technologies, efficient energy systems, energy savings techniques and other mitigation measures necessary to reduce climate changes. The chapter concludes with the technical status of the ground source heat pumps (GSHP) technologies. The purpose of this study, however, is to examine the means of reduction of energy consumption in buildings, identify GSHPs as an environmental friendly technology able to provide efficient utilisation of energy in the buildings sector.