Renewable Energy: Water

Creating sustainable energy is a challenge that engineers are helping solve to meet the world's need for clean and consistent power sources. This unit explores water as a renewable energy source. Students explore aspects of hydropower and its potential-to-kinetic energy transformation through water-based activities including designing, building and testing water waterwheels (water turbines).

We are facing many issues with conventional energy sources (fossil fuels, hydropower, nuclear) that are leading engineers to develop innovative alternative renewable energy sources (wind, solar, biomass) to manage the impacts of energy production on the natural environment. Engineers design water turbines to produce electricity from water power (hydropower). Turbines look like pinwheels with angled blades connected to a gear box, which is connected to a generator. Engineers collect and analyze hydropower data to continually improve turbine technology and hydroelectric power plant design.