Can't We Harness River Power for Energy?
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
23 May 2010
Everywhere we look these days we see ads concerning alternative energy
sources and "going green." They range from windmill farms on
mountaintops to solar energy to tapping the heat from beneath the Earth
to nuclear energy and everything in between.
I, for one, am puzzled by the way one of the most visible sources of
energy runs right through our community, yet nobody ever says anything
about it. I speak of our rivers. We are truly blessed by having three
of the most important waterways in the North American continent flow,
quite literally, right under our noses. We use them for transportation,
entertainment and relaxation. We fish in them, boat on them and drive
across them every day yet nobody, to my recollection, has ever
mentioned using them for our energy needs.
Has anybody, besides me, ever wondered just how many kilowatt hours of
electricity have flowed across and down the faces of those eight or 10
navigation and flood control dams located in and around Pittsburgh for
the last 60 or 70 years? There's no environmental danger, no poisoned
water, no polluted air, the water doesn't wear out -- nothing but
virtually free electricity.
With all the engineering expertise found in and around Pittsburgh, I am
positive that simple water-driven electric generators could be designed
to be mounted atop all those dams. I am not an electrical engineer but
I would guess there would be enough water-driven power generated to
supply not only the power needs of Pittsburgh but also the entire
southwestern corner of Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia.
I hope this letter pushes someone in the right direction and we finally
become truly independent in our energy needs and can finally call
ourselves a "green community."
James A. Hammer
Hampton