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We think of renewable energy as a modern invention. All over the world there are huge wind turbines and hydroelectric dams generating electricity to power our computers, televisions and increasingly – cars.
Today we take a whirlwind look at how our ancestors harnessed both wind and water as an energy source all those thousands of years ago.
Over 5,000 years ago the Egyptians used wind energy to sail their ships up and down the Nile. Whilst this may sound underwhelming today, at the time travelling via wind propulsion across the water was the height of sophistication.
The first use of wind to grind grain is recorded as being in Persia in around 644AD. The use of windmills spread to other areas in the Middle East – but they didn’t arrive in Europe until around 1100.
Traditionally Holland is famous for its windmills. They were used to drain lakes and marshes and reclaim land from the sea. It’s only relatively recently that wind energy has been used to even greater effect.
The Second Industrial Revolution saw the development of increasingly larger windmills. They were called wind turbines and were used to generate electricity. Charles Brush first used a windmill in the USA in 1888 to generate electricity in Cleveland, Ohio. Since then wind turbines have increased in size and we’ve seen them move offshore. At sea there’s nothing to stand in the way of the power of the wind.
A typical modern wind turbine can generate enough electricity to power around 1,000 homes.
Water is the most widely used form of renewable energy. It has been used as a source of power for thousands of years. The Greeks used it to power watermills for grinding flour. The vertical water wheel was invented in around 100AD in Greece. There is evidence of water being used to grind grain dating back to this time.
The first waterworks using water wheels was founded in London in 1582. Water wheels were then used in the Industrial Revolution to provide power for the new factories – evidence of which is still visible in Derbyshire. But as we have seen with wind power, it was the Second Industrial Revolution that saw water used to generate electricity.
The first hydroelectric scheme in the world generated electricity for a single lamp in Cragside country house in Northumberland in 1878. Just a few years later, in 1881, the energy from Niagara Falls was used to power the city’s lights. The following year in Wisconsin, USA, the first commercial hydroelectric plant began operating on the Fox River.
At the time of its construction in 1935 the Hoover Dam, USA, was the largest hydroelectric power plant in the world. But that accolade now goes to the Three Gorges Dam in China. The dam is 1.3 miles wide and the reservoir feeding it stretches 405 square miles. The dam has 32 turbines and generates as much electricity as 18 nuclear power stations.
In 2006 hydroelectricity supplied 20% of the world’s electricity. There are around 25 countries around the world that rely on hydropower for 90% of their electricity. These countries include Norway, Canada, New Zealand and Switzerland.
Wind and water power dates back thousands of years. But it was the Second Industrial Revolution that saw its use develop more rapidly as renewable energy became a way of generating electricity.
Interested in seeing more of how our energy sources have evolved over time? This timeline covers the evolution of fossil, geothermal, hydro, nuclear, renewable and even solar energy:
https://www.switchmybusiness.com/resources/the-evolution-of-energy-sources-a-visual-timeline/
http://energy.gov/eere/wind/history-wind-energy
http://energy.gov/eere/water/history-hydropower
http://geography.about.com/od/chinamaps/a/Three-Gorges-Dam.htm
http://www.hydropower.org/a-brief-history-of-hydropower
