Other Forms of Energy

Water power

Water power supplies us with about 6 % of global energy. When water falls from higher to lower places it creates the power to turn bigturbines. Generators turn this power into electricity.

Water power plays a major role in areas where there are mountains and many rivers, like Austria, Switzerland and Scandinavia. These countries produce most of their energy this way.

It does not cause pollution and because water in mountain areas and rivers always flows we call it a renewable source of energy.

Nuclear energy

About 6 % of total world energy comes from over 400 nuclear power plants. When uranium atoms are split energy is set free and a large amount of heat is created, which is used to produce electricity. The process of splitting atoms is called nuclear fission.

When the first nuclear power stations were built in the late 1950s people thought that they would provide the world with enough cheap energy, but it turned outthat fission had several disadvantages. Because power plants produce a lot of hot water they must have big, expensive cooling towers. Power plants also produce waste that stays radioactive for many years. It must be stored in safe places, for example deep inside rock layers where it cannot do any harm.

The nuclear accident at Chernobyl in 1986 showed us that radioactivity , when released into the air, causes damage to large areas and kills many people. Even decades after the accident thousands of citizens who lived around Chernobyl are still suffering from diseasescaused by radioactivity. 

Nuclear Power Plants 2005
USA	103	United Kingdom	23
France	59	South Korea	20
Japan	55	India	16
Russia	31	Ukraine	15

Words

• amount =how much of something
• cause = lead to
• cooling tower = a large round, tall building that industries or power plants use to cool down water
• decade = a period of ten years
• disadavantages = bad sides
• disease = illness
• electricity =the power that is carried in wires and cables ; it gives us light , heat and makes machines work
• flow =here: when water moves down a river
• generator = a machine that produces electricity
• harm = damage
• layer =material between two things
• major = important
• nuclear = atomic
• nuclear fission = when you split atoms to produce a lot of energy
• pollution =when air, water and other resources get dirty, so that you cannot use them any more
• power plant = a building where electricity is produced
• process =method
• release = to set free
• renewable = something you can use over and over again
• source =place where something comes from
• split = to separate into two or more parts
• store = to put away for a longer time
• suffer =to be ill with; to feel pain
• supply = give
• turbine = a motor in which gas or water moves a wheel around
• turn out = if something happens in a certain way
• waste = materials that you don’t need any more or are left over