Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
Primary Energy Consumption: Hydro
These notes are intended to accompany the slide presentation entitled ‘Primary Energy Consumption:
Hydro’ available from The Gaia Project at www.thegaiaproject.ca.
For more information, please contact brian.mccain@thegaiaproject.ca
OECD refers to the Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development. OECD countries are
generally those countries that are considered to be developed (such as Canada, US, Europe, Australia,
Japan), while non‐OECD countries are developing nations (such as China, India, all of Africa).
Slide Number Description
1 Title
These slides show graphs of a variety of indicators related to primary energy both
regionally and globally.
Primary energy refers to energy that can be found naturally and has not been subject
to any sort of man‐made conversion process. Therefore, it includes energy sources
such as coal, wind and hydro, but not electricity since this is produced from primary
energy sources.
There are a large number of graphs contained in this package, and it is not essential to
understand each one in detail. Instead, when viewed together, they provide an overall
indication of where we were and where we are now in terms of energy consumption.
2 Hydro
Hydro energy harnesses the kinetic and potential energy in water.
Water at a higher elevation has more potential energy than water at lower elevation.
By letting that water flow, we convert that potential energy to kinetic energy which
we can use to make a wheel turn.
3 Annual Global Hydro Energy Consumption
Like nuclear, hydro is used almost exclusively for electricity production. It has been on
a steady rise for the past 40 years or so.
February 24, 2010 1 realistic environmentalism
www.thegaiaproject.ca