Ostrach is a municipality in the district of Sigmaringen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany .
107-561: Ostrach lies between the Danube and Lake Constance , about halfway between Sigmaringen and Ravensburg . It lies on the brook of the same name, which passes through a narrow pass between the glacial moraines left by the Rhine Glacier at the end of the last ice age . The landscape is hilly and wooded. Abandoned quarries to the north and south of the village of Jettkofen have created small lakes. The first mention of Ostrach occurs in 851. In
214-490: A Southern Europe hydropower race. In Italy's Po Valley , the main 20th century transition was not the creation of hydropower but the transition from mechanical to electrical hydropower. 12,000 watermills churned in the Po watershed in the 1890s, but the first commercial hydroelectric plant, completed in 1898, signaled the end of the mechanical reign. These new large plants moved power away from rural mountainous areas to urban centers in
321-443: A billion tonnes of CO2 greenhouse gas a year. This occurs when organic matters accumulate at the bottom of the reservoir because of the deoxygenation of water which triggers anaerobic digestion . People who live near a hydro plant site are displaced during construction or when reservoir banks become unstable. Another potential disadvantage is cultural or religious sites may block construction. A watermill or water mill
428-433: A device to serve wine, and five devices to lift water from rivers or pools, where three of them are animal-powered and one can be powered by animal or water. Moreover, they included an endless belt with jugs attached, a cow-powered shadoof (a crane-like irrigation tool), and a reciprocating device with hinged valves. In the 19th century, French engineer Benoît Fourneyron developed the first hydropower turbine. This device
535-435: A distance. A hydropower resource can be evaluated by its available power . Power is a function of the hydraulic head and volumetric flow rate . The head is the energy per unit weight (or unit mass) of water. The static head is proportional to the difference in height through which the water falls. Dynamic head is related to the velocity of moving water. Each unit of water can do an amount of work equal to its weight times
642-511: A hypothetical Thracian * Donaris . The Proto-Indo-European root of this presumed name is related to the Iranic word " don- "/" dan- ", while the supposed suffix -aris is encountered in the ancient name of the Ialomița River , Naparis , and in the unidentified Miliare river mentioned by Jordanes in his Getica . Gábor Vékony says that this hypothesis is not plausible, because
749-427: A low-carbon means for economic development . Since ancient times, hydropower from watermills has been used as a renewable energy source for irrigation and the operation of mechanical devices, such as gristmills , sawmills , textile mills, trip hammers , dock cranes , domestic lifts , and ore mills . A trompe , which produces compressed air from falling water, is sometimes used to power other machinery at
856-460: A microturbine in a cylindrical housing. Electricity generated by that turbine is used to charge 12-volt batteries." The term rain power has also been applied to hydropower systems which include the process of capturing the rain. Evidence suggests that the fundamentals of hydropower date to ancient Greek civilization . Other evidence indicates that the waterwheel independently emerged in China around
963-462: A more dependable source of power by smoothing seasonal changes in water flow. However, reservoirs have a significant environmental impact , as does alteration of naturally occurring streamflow. Dam design must account for the worst-case, "probable maximum flood" that can be expected at the site; a spillway is often included to route flood flows around the dam. A computer model of the hydraulic basin and rainfall and snowfall records are used to predict
1070-490: A mutual need for hydropower could lead to cooperation between otherwise adversarial nations. Hydropower technology and attitude began to shift in the second half of the 20th century. While countries had largely abandoned their small hydropower systems by the 1930s, the smaller hydropower plants began to make a comeback in the 1970s, boosted by government subsidies and a push for more independent energy producers. Some politicians who once advocated for large hydropower projects in
1177-525: A remote sensor." Villazon suggested a better application would be to collect the water from fallen rain and use it to drive a turbine, with an estimated energy generation of 3 kWh of energy per year for a 185 m roof. A microturbine-based system created by three students from the Technological University of Mexico has been used to generate electricity. The Pluvia system "uses the stream of rainwater runoff from houses' rooftop rain gutters to spin
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#17328518077201284-712: A tool to interfere in the economic development of African countries, such as the World Bank with the Kariba and Akosombo Dams , and the Soviet Union with the Aswan Dam . The Nile River especially has borne the consequences of countries both along the Nile and distant foreign actors using the river to expand their economic power or national force. After the British occupation of Egypt in 1882,
1391-479: A turbine with 90% efficiency. He applied scientific principles and testing methods to the problem of turbine design. His mathematical and graphical calculation methods allowed the confident design of high-efficiency turbines to exactly match a site's specific flow conditions. The Francis reaction turbine is still in use. In the 1870s, deriving from uses in the California mining industry, Lester Allan Pelton developed
1498-521: Is 4,152 km (1,603 sq mi), of which 3,446 km (1,331 sq mi) are in Romania. If one includes the lagoons of Razim-Sinoe (1,015 km (392 sq mi) of which 865 km (334 sq mi) water surface), which are located south of the delta proper, but are related to it geologically and ecologically (their combined territory is part of the World Heritage Site),
1605-660: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Danube The Danube ( / ˈ d æ n . j uː b / DAN -yoob ; see also other names ) is the second-longest river in Europe , after the Volga in Russia . It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe , from the Black Forest south into the Black Sea . A large and historically important river, it was once a frontier of
1712-535: Is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding) , rolling , or hammering . Such processes are needed in the production of many material goods, including flour , lumber , paper , textiles , and many metal products. These watermills may comprise gristmills , sawmills , paper mills , textile mills , hammermills , trip hammering mills, rolling mills , and wire drawing mills. One major way to classify watermills
1819-471: Is also an important source of hydropower and drinking water . The Danube river basin is home to such fish species as pike , zander , huchen , Wels catfish , burbot and tench . It is also home to numerous diverse carp and sturgeon , as well as salmon and trout . A few species of euryhaline fish, such as European seabass , mullet , and eel , inhabit the Danube Delta and the lower portion of
1926-423: Is an attractive alternative to fossil fuels as it does not directly produce carbon dioxide or other atmospheric pollutants and it provides a relatively consistent source of power. Nonetheless, it has economic, sociological, and environmental downsides and requires a sufficiently energetic source of water, such as a river or elevated lake . International institutions such as the World Bank view hydropower as
2033-501: Is available on demand to be used to generate electricity by passing through channels that connect the dam to the reservoir. The water spins a turbine, which is connected to the generator that produces electricity. The other type is called a run-of-river plant. In this case, a barrage is built to control the flow of water, absent a reservoir . The run-of river power plant needs continuous water flow and therefore has less ability to provide power on demand. The kinetic energy of flowing water
2140-400: Is by an essential trait about their location: tide mills use the movement of the tide; ship mills are water mills onboard (and constituting) a ship. A plentiful head of water can be made to generate compressed air directly without moving parts. In these designs, a falling column of water is deliberately mixed with air bubbles generated through turbulence or a venturi pressure reducer at
2247-445: Is by using hybrid solar panels called "all-weather solar panels" that can generate electricity from both the sun and the rain. According to zoologist and science and technology educator, Luis Villazon, "A 2008 French study estimated that you could use piezoelectric devices, which generate power when they move, to extract 12 milliwatts from a raindrop. Over a year, this would amount to less than 0.001kWh per square metre – enough to power
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#17328518077202354-420: Is by wheel orientation (vertical or horizontal), one powered by a vertical waterwheel through a gear mechanism, and the other equipped with a horizontal waterwheel without such a mechanism. The former type can be further subdivided, depending on where the water hits the wheel paddles, into undershot, overshot, breastshot and pitchback (backshot or reverse shot) waterwheel mills. Another way to classify water mills
2461-612: Is divided into three main parts, separated by "gates" where the river is forced to cut through mountainous sections: Mean annual discharge on the hydrological stations (period from 2000 to 2023); 1 - Reni , Isaccea ; 2 - Silistra ; 3 - Pristol ; 4 - Batina , Bezdan ; 5 - Nagymaros , Szob ; 6 - Bratislava , Wolfsthal ; 7 - Untergriesbach Multiannual average, minimum and maximum discharge (water period from 1876 to 2010) Simulated water and suspended sediment results from climate-driven decadal study (with STD through specific decade): P – Simulated average precipitation in
2568-637: Is estimated that the Danube upper course will one day disappear entirely in favor of the Rhine, an event called stream capturing . The hydrological parameters of Danube are regularly monitored in Croatia at Batina , Dalj , Vukovar and Ilok . The Danube basin was the site of some of the earliest human cultures. The Danubian Neolithic cultures include the Linear Pottery cultures of the mid-Danube basin. Many sites of
2675-439: Is lost from erosion. Furthermore, studies found that the construction of dams and reservoirs can result in habitat loss for some aquatic species. Large and deep dam and reservoir plants cover large areas of land which causes greenhouse gas emissions from underwater rotting vegetation. Furthermore, although at lower levels than other renewable energy sources, it was found that hydropower produces methane equivalent to almost
2782-403: Is the decreased efficiency of electricity generation because the process depends on the speed of the seasonal river flow. This means that the rainy season increases electricity generation compared to the dry season. The size of hydroelectric plants can vary from small plants called micro hydro , to large plants that supply power to a whole country. As of 2019, the five largest power stations in
2889-423: Is the main source of energy. Both designs have limitations. For example, dam construction can result in discomfort to nearby residents. The dam and reservoirs occupy a relatively large amount of space that may be opposed by nearby communities. Moreover, reservoirs can potentially have major environmental consequences such as harming downstream habitats. On the other hand, the limitation of the run-of-river project
2996-461: Is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by converting the gravitational potential or kinetic energy of a water source to produce power. Hydropower is a method of sustainable energy production. Hydropower is now used principally for hydroelectric power generation , and is also applied as one half of an energy storage system known as pumped-storage hydroelectricity . Hydropower
3103-653: Is to implement the Danube River Protection Convention by promoting and coordinating sustainable and equitable water management, including conservation, improvement, and rational use of waters and the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive and the Danube Strategy . The Danube Commission is concerned with the maintenance and improvement of the river's navigation conditions. It was established in 1948 by seven countries bordering
3210-672: The Argonautica by Apollonius Rhodos (Argon. IV. 282). At the end of the Okeanos Potamos , is the holy island of Alba (Leuke, Pytho Nisi, Isle of Snakes ), sacred to the Pelasgian (and later, Greek) Apollo, greeting the sun rising in the east. Hecateus Abderitas refers to Apollo's island from the region of the Hyperboreans, in the Okeanos. It was on Leuke, in one version of his legend, that
3317-513: The Black Sea via the Danube Delta in Romania and Ukraine . Once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire , the river passes through or touches the borders of 10 countries. Its drainage basin extends into nine more (ten if Kosovo is included). In addition to the bordering countries (see above), the drainage basin includes parts of nine more countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina (4.6% of
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3424-559: The Bystroye Canal . In 2022, there was a major heat wave in Europe. As a result, there was less water flowing in the rivers. As the water level decreased, a number of ship wrecks from World War II emerged in the Danube River. Many of the ships were from Nazi Germany 's Black Sea Fleet and had been scuttled to stop them from falling into enemy hands. The International Commission for
3531-891: The Columbia River and its tributaries. The Bureau of Reclamation built the Hoover Dam in 1931, symbolically linking the job creation and economic growth priorities of the New Deal . The federal government quickly followed Hoover with the Shasta Dam and Grand Coulee Dam . Power demand in Oregon did not justify damming the Columbia until WWI revealed the weaknesses of a coal-based energy economy. The federal government then began prioritizing interconnected power—and lots of it. Electricity from all three dams poured into war production during WWII . After
3638-682: The Danubian Limes was the northeastern border of the Empire, with occasional interruptions such as the fall of the Danubian Limes in 259. The crossing of the Danube into Dacia was achieved by the Imperium Romanum , first in two battles in 102 and then in 106 after the construction of a bridge in 101 near the garrison town of Drobeta at the Iron Gate. This victory over Dacia under Decebalus enabled
3745-639: The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ghana , frequently sell excess power to neighboring countries. Foreign actors such as Chinese hydropower companies have proposed a significant amount of new hydropower projects in Africa, and already funded and consulted on many others in countries like Mozambique and Ghana. Small hydropower also played an important role in early 20th century electrification across Africa. In South Africa, small turbines powered gold mines and
3852-646: The Habsburg monarchy , Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , and Russian Empire for controlling the Danube ( Tuna in Turkish ), which became the northern border of the Ottoman Empire for centuries. Many of the Ottoman–Hungarian Wars (1366–1526) and Ottoman–Habsburg wars (1526–1791) were fought along the river. Hydropower Hydropower (from Ancient Greek ὑδρο -, "water"), also known as water power ,
3959-579: The Industrial Revolution would drive development as well. At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, water was the main power source for new inventions such as Richard Arkwright 's water frame . Although water power gave way to steam power in many of the larger mills and factories, it was still used during the 18th and 19th centuries for many smaller operations, such as driving
4066-670: The Mauryan , Gupta and Chola empires. Another example of the early use of hydropower is seen in hushing , a historic method of mining that uses flood or torrent of water to reveal mineral veins. The method was first used at the Dolaucothi Gold Mines in Wales from 75 AD onwards. This method was further developed in Spain in mines such as Las Médulas . Hushing was also widely used in Britain in
4173-853: The Medieval and later periods to extract lead and tin ores. It later evolved into hydraulic mining when used during the California Gold Rush in the 19th century. The Islamic Empire spanned a large region, mainly in Asia and Africa, along with other surrounding areas. During the Islamic Golden Age and the Arab Agricultural Revolution (8th–13th centuries), hydropower was widely used and developed. Early uses of tidal power emerged along with large hydraulic factory complexes. A wide range of water-powered industrial mills were used in
4280-620: The PIE * isro- , * sreu 'to flow'. In the Middle Ages, the Greek Tiras was borrowed into Italian as Tyrlo and into Turkic languages as Tyrla ; the latter was further borrowed into Romanian as a regionalism ( Turlă ). The Thraco- Phrygian name was Matoas , "the bringer of luck". The Middle Mongolian name for the Danube was transliterated as Tho-na in 1829 by Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat . The modern languages spoken in
4387-766: The Roman Empire . In the 21st century, it connects ten European countries, running through their territories or marking a border. Originating in Germany , the Danube flows southeast for 2,850 km (1,770 mi), passing through or bordering Austria , Slovakia , Hungary , Croatia , Serbia , Romania , Bulgaria , Moldova , and Ukraine . Among the many cities on the river are four national capitals: Vienna , Bratislava , Budapest , and Belgrade . Its drainage basin amounts to 817,000 km (315,000 sq mi) and extends into nine more countries. The Danube's longest headstream Breg rises in Furtwangen im Schwarzwald , while
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4494-735: The 13th century, the area passed gradually from the Holy Roman Empire into the hands of the monastery of Salem . On 21 March 1799 the Austrian and French troops fought a battle at Ostrach. In 1803, in the German Mediatisation , Ostrach and Bachhaupten passed into the hands of the house of Thurn und Taxis , and in 1806 they were incorporated into the lands of the house of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen . The railway line Altshausen-Ostrach-Pfullendorf opened in 1875. The last freight train passed through Ostrach on 31 July 2002. On 1 January 1975
4601-481: The 4th century BC refer to the term cakkavattaka (turning wheel), which commentaries explain as arahatta-ghati-yanta (machine with wheel-pots attached), however whether this is water or hand powered is disputed by scholars India received Roman water mills and baths in the early 4th century AD when a certain according to Greek sources. Dams, spillways, reservoirs, channels, and water balance would develop in India during
4708-807: The American West, organized opposition to hydroelectric dams sparked up in the 1950s and 60s based on environmental concerns. Environmental movements successfully shut down proposed hydropower dams in Dinosaur National Monument and the Grand Canyon , and gained more hydropower-fighting tools with 1970s environmental legislation. As nuclear and fossil fuels grew in the 70s and 80s and environmental activists push for river restoration, hydropower gradually faded in American importance. Foreign powers and IGOs have frequently used hydropower projects in Africa as
4815-656: The British worked with Egypt to construct the first Aswan Dam, which they heightened in 1912 and 1934 to try to hold back the Nile floods. Egyptian engineer Adriano Daninos developed a plan for the Aswan High Dam, inspired by the Tennessee Valley Authority's multipurpose dam. When Gamal Abdel Nasser took power in the 1950s, his government decided to undertake the High Dam project, publicizing it as an economic development project. After American refusal to help fund
4922-752: The Danube basin all use names derived from the Latin name Danubius : Danube is an Old European river name derived from the Celtic ' danu ' or ' don ' (both Celtic gods), which itself derived from the Proto-Indo-European * deh₂nu . Other European river names from the same root include the Dunaj, Dzvina/ Daugava , Don , Donets , Dnieper , Dniestr , Dysna and Tana/Deatnu . In Rigvedic Sanskrit , danu (दनु) means "fluid, dewdrop" and danuja (दनु-ज) means "born from danu " or "born from dew-drops". In Avestan ,
5029-431: The Danube basin; T – Simulated average temperature in the Danube basin; Q – Simulated average discharge in the Danube River at delta; S – Simulated sediment load in the Danube River at delta ; Historical average flow to the present day; Measured and reconstructed average water flows from 1742. The reconstructed and observed streamflow (Q – m /s) at Ceatal Izmail for the 1742 to 2022: The land drained by
5136-1035: The Danube extends into many other countries. Many Danubian tributaries are important rivers in their own right, navigable by barges and other shallow-draught boats. From its source to its outlet into the Black Sea, its main tributaries are (as they enter): 18. Tisza (entering near Titel ) 19. Sava (entering at Belgrade ) 20. Timiș (river) (entering at Pančevo ) 21. Great Morava (entering near Smederevo ) 22. Mlava (entering near Kostolac ) 23. Karaš (entering near Banatska Palanka ) 24. Jiu (entering at Bechet ) 25. Iskar (entering near Gigen ) 26. Olt (entering at Turnu Măgurele ) 27. Osam (entering near Nikopol, Bulgaria ) 28. Yantra (entering near Svishtov ) 29. Argeș (entering at Oltenița ) 30. Ialomița 31. Siret (entering near Galați ) 32. Prut (entering near Galați ) The Danube flows through many cities, including four national capitals (shown below in bold), more than any other river in
5243-627: The Danube was variously known as Danubius , Danuvius , Ister or Hister . The Latin name is masculine, as are all its Slavic names, except Slovene (the name of the Rhine is also masculine in Latin, most of the Slavic languages, as well as in German). The German Donau ( Early Modern German Donaw , Tonaw , Middle High German Tuonowe ) is feminine, as it has been re-interpreted as containing
5350-591: The Danube's, today subsurface rivers carry much water from the Danube to the Rhine. On many days in the summer, when the Danube carries little water, it completely oozes away noisily into these underground channels at two locations in the Swabian Alb, which are referred to as the Donauversickerung ( Danube Sink ). Most of this water resurfaces only 12 km (7.5 mi) south at the Aachtopf , Germany's wellspring with
5457-512: The Danube. Today the Commission include riparian and non-riparian states. Although the headwaters of the Danube are relatively small today, geologically, the Danube is much older than the Rhine , with which its catchment area competes in today's southern Germany. This has a few interesting geological complications. Since the Rhine is the only river rising in the Alps mountains which flows north towards
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#17328518077205564-488: The Grand Coulee to build a nuclear site placed on the banks of the Columbia. The nuclear site leaked radioactive matter into the river, contaminating the entire area. Post-WWII Americans, especially engineers from the Tennessee Valley Authority , refocused from simply building domestic dams to promoting hydropower abroad. While domestic dam building continued well into the 1970s, with the Reclamation Bureau and Army Corps of Engineers building more than 150 new dams across
5671-532: The Greeks borrowed the Istros form from the native Thracians. He proposes that the Romanian name is a loanword from a Turkic language ( Cuman or Pecheneg ). Classified as an international waterway , it originates in the town of Donaueschingen , in the Black Forest of Germany , at the confluence of the rivers Brigach and Breg . The Danube then flows southeast for about 2,730 km (1,700 mi), passing through four capital cities ( Vienna , Bratislava , Budapest , and Belgrade ) before emptying into
5778-406: The Hun waterwheel; some of the earliest ones are the Jijiupian dictionary of 40 BC, Yang Xiong 's text known as the Fangyan of 15 BC, as well as Xin Lun, written by Huan Tan about 20 AD. It was also during this time that the engineer Du Shi (c. AD 31) applied the power of waterwheels to piston - bellows in forging cast iron. Ancient Indian texts dating back to
5885-500: The Nile, hydroelectric projects cover the rivers and lakes of Africa. The Inga powerplant on the Congo River had been discussed since Belgian colonization in the late 19th century, and was successfully built after independence. Mobutu's government failed to regularly maintain the plants and their capacity declined until the 1995 formation of the Southern African Power Pool created a multi-national power grid and plant maintenance program. States with an abundance of hydropower, such as
5992-435: The North Sea, an invisible line beginning at Piz Lunghin divides large parts of southern Germany, which is sometimes referred to as the European Watershed . Before the last ice age in the Pleistocene , the Rhine started at the southwestern tip of the Black Forest, while the waters from the Alps that today feed the Rhine were carried east by the so-called Urdonau (original Danube). Parts of this ancient river's bed, which
6099-424: The Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR) is an organization that consists of 14 member states (Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Montenegro, and Ukraine) and the European Union . The commission, established in 1998, deals with the whole Danube river basin, which includes tributaries and groundwater resources. Its goal
6206-418: The Province of Dacia to be created, but in 271 it was abandoned by emperor Aurelian . Avars used the river as their southeastern border in the 6th century. Part of the rivers Danubius or Istros was also known as (together with the Black Sea) the Okeanos in ancient times, being called the Okeanos Potamos (Okeanos River). The lower Danube was also called the Keras Okeanoio (Gulf or Horn of Okeanos) in
6313-471: The Serbian and the Romanian stretches of the Danube. However, the transgressions may not be considered acts of piracy, as defined according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea , but rather instances of "river robbery". On the other hand, media reports say the crews on transport ships often steal and sell their own cargo and then blame the plundering on "pirates", and the alleged attacks are not piracy but small-time contraband theft along
6420-905: The United States' hydroelectric plants in Niagara Falls and the Sierra Nevada inspired bigger and bolder creations across the globe. American and USSR financers and hydropower experts also spread the gospel of dams and hydroelectricity across the globe during the Cold War , contributing to projects such as the Three Gorges Dam and the Aswan High Dam . Feeding desire for large scale electrification with water inherently required large dams across powerful rivers, which impacted public and private interests downstream and in flood zones. Inevitably smaller communities and marginalized groups suffered. They were unable to successfully resist companies flooding them out of their homes or blocking traditional salmon passages. The stagnant water created by hydroelectric dams provides breeding ground for pests and pathogens , leading to local epidemics . However, in some cases,
6527-488: The basin area), the Czech Republic (2.9%), Slovenia (2.0%), Montenegro (0.9%), Switzerland (0.2%), Italy (<0.15%), Poland (<0.1%), North Macedonia (<0.1%) and Albania (<0.1%). The total drainage basin is 801,463 km (309,447 sq mi) in area, and is home to 83 million people. The highest point of the drainage basin is the summit of Piz Bernina at the Italy–Switzerland border , at 4,049 m (13,284 ft). The Danube River Basin
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#17328518077206634-441: The bellows in small blast furnaces (e.g. the Dyfi Furnace ) and gristmills , such as those built at Saint Anthony Falls , which uses the 50-foot (15 m) drop in the Mississippi River . Technological advances moved the open water wheel into an enclosed turbine or water motor . In 1848, the British-American engineer James B. Francis , head engineer of Lowell's Locks and Canals company, improved on these designs to create
6741-440: The cost of building new hydroelectric dams increased 4% annually between 1965 and 1990, due both to the increasing costs of construction and to the decrease in high quality building sites. In the 1990s, only 18% of the world's electricity came from hydropower. Tidal power production also emerged in the 1960s as a burgeoning alternative hydropower system, though still has not taken hold as a strong energy contender. Especially at
6848-439: The dam, and anti-British sentiment in Egypt and British interests in neighboring Sudan combined to make the United Kingdom pull out as well, the Soviet Union funded the Aswan High Dam. Between 1977 and 1990 the dam's turbines generated one third of Egypt's electricity. The building of the Aswan Dam triggered a dispute between Sudan and Egypt over the sharing of the Nile, especially since the dam flooded part of Sudan and decreased
6955-471: The distance to the Black Sea by 400 km (250 mi); the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal is about 171 km (106 mi), finished in 1992, linking the North Sea to the Black Sea. A Danube-Aegean canal has been proposed. Danube River cruise for sightseeing is popular, especially between Passau , Germany, to Budapest , Hungary. In 2010–12, shipping companies, especially from Ukraine, claimed that their vessels suffered from "regular pirate attacks " on
7062-454: The early 20th century, two major factors motivated the expansion of hydropower in Europe: in the northern countries of Norway and Sweden high rainfall and mountains proved exceptional resources for abundant hydropower, and in the south coal shortages pushed governments and utility companies to seek alternative power sources. Early on, Switzerland dammed the Alpine rivers and the Swiss Rhine , creating, along with Italy and Scandinavia ,
7169-441: The falls far enough away to actually reach enough people and justify installation. The project succeeded in large part due to Nikola Tesla's invention of the alternating current motor . On the other side of the country, San Francisco engineers, the Sierra Club , and the federal government fought over acceptable use of the Hetch Hetchy Valley . Despite ostensible protection within a national park, city engineers successfully won
7276-532: The first century BC. The Barbegal mill , located in modern-day France, had 16 water wheels processing up to 28 tons of grain per day. Roman waterwheels were also used for sawing marble such as the Hierapolis sawmill of the late 3rd century AD. Such sawmills had a waterwheel that drove two crank-and-connecting rods to power two saws. It also appears in two 6th century Eastern Roman sawmills excavated at Ephesus and Gerasa respectively. The crank and connecting rod mechanism of these Roman watermills converted
7383-446: The first electric railway in the 1890s, and Zimbabwean farmers installed small hydropower stations in the 1930s. While interest faded as national grids improved in the second half of the century, 21st century national governments in countries including South Africa and Mozambique, as well as NGOs serving countries like Zimbabwe, have begun re-exploring small-scale hydropower to diversify power sources and improve rural electrification. In
7490-403: The first half of the 20th century began to speak out against them, and citizen groups organizing against dam projects increased. In the 1980s and 90s the international anti-dam movement had made finding government or private investors for new large hydropower projects incredibly difficult, and given rise to NGOs devoted to fighting dams. Additionally, while the cost of other energy sources fell,
7597-453: The flow of a body of water without necessarily changing its height. In this case, the available power is the kinetic energy of the flowing water. Over-shot water wheels can efficiently capture both types of energy. The flow in a stream can vary widely from season to season. The development of a hydropower site requires analysis of flow records , sometimes spanning decades, to assess the reliable annual energy supply. Dams and reservoirs provide
7704-721: The gorge) by the Iron Gate II Hydroelectric Power Station . On 13 April 2006, a record peak discharge at Iron Gate Dam reached 15,400 m /s (540,000 cu ft/s). There are three artificial waterways built on the Danube: the Danube-Tisa-Danube Canal (DTD) in the Banat and Bačka regions ( Vojvodina , northern province of Serbia); the 64 km (40 mi) Danube-Black Sea Canal , between Cernavodă and Constanța (Romania) finished in 1984, shortens
7811-502: The head lost due to flow friction in the power canal or penstock, rise in tailwater level due to flow, the location of the station and effect of varying gravity, the air temperature and barometric pressure, the density of the water at ambient temperature, and the relative altitudes of the forebay and tailbay. For precise calculations, errors due to rounding and the number of significant digits of constants must be considered. Some hydropower systems such as water wheels can draw power from
7918-419: The head. The power available from falling water can be calculated from the flow rate and density of water, the height of fall, and the local acceleration due to gravity: To illustrate, the power output of a turbine that is 85% efficient, with a flow rate of 80 cubic metres per second (2800 cubic feet per second) and a head of 145 metres (476 feet), is 97 megawatts: Operators of hydroelectric stations compare
8025-521: The hero Achilles was buried (to this day, one of the mouths of the Danube is called Chilia). Old Romanian folk songs recount a white monastery on a white island with nine priests. Between the late 14th and late 19th centuries, the Ottoman Empire competed first with the Kingdom of Serbia , Second Bulgarian Empire , Kingdom of Hungary , Principality of Wallachia , Principality of Moldavia and later with
8132-515: The high-efficiency Pelton wheel impulse turbine , which used hydropower from the high head streams characteristic of the Sierra Nevada . The modern history of hydropower begins in the 1900s, with large dams built not simply to power neighboring mills or factories but provide extensive electricity for increasingly distant groups of people. Competition drove much of the global hydroelectric craze: Europe competed amongst itself to electrify first, and
8239-400: The high-level intake. This allows it to fall down a shaft into a subterranean, high-roofed chamber where the now-compressed air separates from the water and becomes trapped. The height of the falling water column maintains compression of the air in the top of the chamber, while an outlet, submerged below the water level in the chamber allows water to flow back to the surface at a lower level than
8346-401: The highest among all renewable energy technologies. Hydroelectricity generation starts with converting either the potential energy of water that is present due to the site's elevation or the kinetic energy of moving water into electrical energy. Hydroelectric power plants vary in terms of the way they harvest energy. One type involves a dam and a reservoir . The water in the reservoir
8453-423: The highest flow, an average of 8,500 L/s (300 cu ft/s), north of Lake Constance —thus feeding the Rhine. The European Water Divide applies only for those waters that pass beyond this point, and only during the days of the year when the Danube carries enough water to survive the sinkholes in the Donauversickerung. Since such large volumes of underground water erode much of the surrounding limestone, it
8560-591: The intake. A separate outlet in the roof of the chamber supplies the compressed air. A facility on this principle was built on the Montreal River at Ragged Shutes near Cobalt, Ontario , in 1910 and supplied 5,000 horsepower to nearby mines. Hydroelectricity is the biggest hydropower application. Hydroelectricity generates about 15% of global electricity and provides at least 50% of the total electricity supply for more than 35 countries. In 2021, global installed hydropower electrical capacity reached almost 1400 GW,
8667-497: The last unexploited energy sources in nature. When it rains, billions of litres of water can fall, which have an enormous electric potential if used in the right way." Research is being done into the different methods of generating power from rain, such as by using the energy in the impact of raindrops. This is in its very early stages with new and emerging technologies being tested, prototyped and created. Such power has been called rain power. One method in which this has been attempted
8774-500: The maximum flood. Some disadvantages of hydropower have been identified. Dam failures can have catastrophic effects, including loss of life, property and pollution of land. Dams and reservoirs can have major negative impacts on river ecosystems such as preventing some animals traveling upstream, cooling and de-oxygenating of water released downstream, and loss of nutrients due to settling of particulates. River sediment builds river deltas and dams prevent them from restoring what
8881-520: The northern barbarian Thracian and Illyrian tribes by advancing from Macedonia as far as the Danube in 336 BCE. Under the Romans, the Danube formed the border of the Empire with the tribes to the north almost from its source to its mouth. At the same time, it was a route for the transport of troops and the supply of settlements downstream. From 37 CE to the reign of the Emperor Valentinian I (364–375)
8988-593: The region including fulling mills, gristmills , paper mills , hullers , sawmills , ship mills , stamp mills , steel mills , sugar mills , and tide mills . By the 11th century, every province throughout the Islamic Empire had these industrial mills in operation, from Al-Andalus and North Africa to the Middle East and Central Asia . Muslim engineers also used water turbines while employing gears in watermills and water-raising machines. They also pioneered
9095-468: The rights to both water and power in the Hetch Hetchy Valley in 1913. After their victory they delivered Hetch Hetchy hydropower and water to San Francisco a decade later and at twice the promised cost, selling power to PG&E which resold to San Francisco residents at a profit. The American West, with its mountain rivers and lack of coal, turned to hydropower early and often, especially along
9202-621: The river carries its name from its source confluence in the palace park in Donaueschingen onwards. Since ancient times, the Danube has been a traditional trade route in Europe. Today, 2,415 km (1,501 mi) of its total length are navigable. The Danube is linked to the North Sea via the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal , connecting the Danube at Kelheim with the Main at Bamberg . The river
9309-515: The river has been part of a trans-European waterway from Rotterdam on the North Sea to Sulina on the Black Sea, a distance of 3,500 km (2,200 mi). In 1994 the Danube was declared one of ten Pan-European transport corridors , routes in Central and Eastern Europe that required major investment over the following ten to fifteen years. The amount of goods transported on the Danube increased to about 100 million tons in 1987. In 1999, transport on
9416-679: The river was made difficult by the NATO bombing of three bridges in Serbia during the Kosovo War . Clearance of the resulting debris was completed in 2002, and a temporary pontoon bridge that hampered navigation was removed in 2005. At the Iron Gate , the Danube flows through a gorge that forms part of the boundary between Serbia and Romania; it contains the Iron Gate I Hydroelectric Power Station dam, followed at about 60 km (37 mi) downstream (outside
9523-636: The river. The Danube Delta ( Romanian : Delta Dunării pronounced [ˈdelta ˈdunərij] ; Ukrainian : Дельта Дунаю , romanized : Del'ta Dunayu ) is the largest river delta in the European Union . The greater part of the Danube Delta lies in Romania (Tulcea county), while its northern part, on the left bank of the Chilia arm, is situated in Ukraine (Odesa Oblast). The approximate surface
9630-630: The river. Today the river carries its name from its source confluence in Donaueschingen , Germany , to its discharge into the Black Sea via the Danube Delta in Romania and Ukraine . The river was known to the ancient Greeks as the Istros ( Ἴστρος ) from a root possibly also encountered in the ancient name of the Dniester ( Danaster in Latin, Tiras in Greek) and akin to Iranic turos 'swift' and Sanskrit iṣiras ( इषिरस् ) 'swift', from
9737-503: The river. Members include representatives from Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Slovakia, Romania, Russia, Ukraine, and Serbia; it meets regularly twice a year. It also convenes groups of experts to consider items provided for in the commission's working plans. The commission dates to the Paris Conferences of 1856 and 1921, which established for the first time an international regime to safeguard free navigation on
9844-511: The rotary motion of the waterwheel into the linear movement of the saw blades. Water-powered trip hammers and bellows in China, during the Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD), were initially thought to be powered by water scoops . However, some historians suggested that they were powered by waterwheels. This is since it was theorized that water scoops would not have had the motive force to operate their blast furnace bellows. Many texts describe
9951-453: The same period. Evidence of water wheels and watermills date to the ancient Near East in the 4th century BC. Moreover, evidence indicates the use of hydropower using irrigation machines to ancient civilizations such as Sumer and Babylonia . Studies suggest that the water wheel was the initial form of water power and it was driven by either humans or animals. In the Roman Empire , water-powered mills were described by Vitruvius by
10058-639: The same word means "river". The Finnish word for Danube is Tonava , which is most likely derived from the name of the river in German , Donau . Its Sámi name Deatnu means "Great River". It is possible that dānu in Scythian as in Avestan was a generic word for "river": Dnieper and Dniestr , from Danapris and Danastius , are presumed to continue Scythian * dānu apara "far river" and * dānu nazdya- "near river", respectively. In Latin,
10165-629: The sixth-to-third millennium BCE Vinča culture (Vinča, Serbia), are sited along the Danube. The third millennium BCE Vučedol culture (from the Vučedol site near Vukovar , Croatia ) is famous for its ceramics. Darius the Great , king of Persia , crossed the river in the late 6th century BCE to invade European Scythia and to subdue the Scythians . Alexander the Great defeated the Triballian king Syrmus and
10272-534: The start of the American hydropower experiment, engineers and politicians began major hydroelectricity projects to solve a problem of 'wasted potential' rather than to power a population that needed the electricity. When the Niagara Falls Power Company began looking into damming Niagara, the first major hydroelectric project in the United States, in the 1890s they struggled to transport electricity from
10379-466: The suffix -ouwe "wetland". Romanian differs from other surrounding languages in designating the river with a feminine term, Dunărea ( IPA: [ˈdunəre̯a] ). This form was not inherited from Latin, although Romanian is a Romance language. To explain the loss of the Latin name, scholars who suppose that Romanian developed near the large river propose that the Romanian name descends from
10486-410: The surrounding villages of Burgweiler (with Dichtenhausen, Hahnennest, Ochsenbach, Waldbeuren, Ulzhausen, Egelreute), Einhart, Habsthal (with Bernweiler), Jettkofen, Kalkreute, Laubbach, Levertsweiler, Magenbuch (with Lausheim), Spöck, Tafertsweiler (with Bachhaupten, Eschendorf, and Gunzenhausen), Wangen, and Wirnsweiler were incorporated into Ostrach. This Sigmaringen district location article
10593-490: The total area of the Danube Delta reaches 5,165 km (1,994 sq mi). The Danube Delta is also the best-preserved river delta in Europe, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (since 1991) and a Ramsar Site . Its lakes and marshes support 45 freshwater fish species. Its wetlands support vast flocks of migratory birds of over 300 species, including the endangered pygmy cormorant ( Phalacrocorax pygmaeus ). These are threatened by rival canalization and drainage schemes such as
10700-423: The total electrical energy produced with the theoretical potential energy of the water passing through the turbine to calculate efficiency. Procedures and definitions for calculation of efficiency are given in test codes such as ASME PTC 18 and IEC 60041. Field testing of turbines is used to validate the manufacturer's efficiency guarantee. Detailed calculation of the efficiency of a hydropower turbine accounts for
10807-703: The use of dams as a source of water power, used to provide additional power to watermills and water-raising machines. Islamic irriguation techniques including Persian Wheels would be introduced to India, and would be combined with local methods, during the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire . Furthermore, in his book, The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices , the Muslim mechanical engineer, Al-Jazari (1136–1206) described designs for 50 devices. Many of these devices were water-powered, including clocks,
10914-545: The volume of water available to them. Ethiopia , also located on the Nile, took advantage of the Cold War tensions to request assistance from the United States for their own irrigation and hydropower investments in the 1960s. While progress stalled due to the coup d'état of 1974 and following 17-year-long Ethiopian Civil War Ethiopia began construction on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in 2011. Beyond
11021-473: The war, the Grand Coulee Dam and accompanying hydroelectric projects electrified almost all of the rural Columbia Basin , but failed to improve the lives of those living and farming there the way its boosters had promised and also damaged the river ecosystem and migrating salmon populations. In the 1940s as well, the federal government took advantage of the sheer amount of unused power and flowing water from
11128-618: The world are conventional hydroelectric power stations with dams. Hydroelectricity can also be used to store energy in the form of potential energy between two reservoirs at different heights with pumped-storage . Water is pumped uphill into reservoirs during periods of low demand to be released for generation when demand is high or system generation is low. Other forms of electricity generation with hydropower include tidal stream generators using energy from tidal power generated from oceans, rivers, and human-made canal systems to generating electricity. Rain has been referred to as "one of
11235-504: The world. Ordered from the source to the mouth they are: The Danube is navigable by ocean ships from the Black Sea to Brăila in Romania (the maritime river sector), and further on by river ships to Kelheim , Bavaria , Germany; smaller craft can navigate further upstream to Ulm , Württemberg , Germany. About 60 of its tributaries are also navigable. Since the completion of the German Rhine–Main–Danube Canal in 1992,
11342-652: Was implemented in the commercial plant of Niagara Falls in 1895 and it is still operating. In the early 20th century, English engineer William Armstrong built and operated the first private electrical power station which was located in his house in Cragside in Northumberland , England. In 1753, the French engineer Bernard Forest de Bélidor published his book, Architecture Hydraulique , which described vertical-axis and horizontal-axis hydraulic machines. The growing demand for
11449-567: Was much larger than today's Danube, can still be seen in (now waterless) canyons in today's landscape of the Swabian Alb . After the Upper Rhine valley had been eroded, most waters from the Alps changed their direction and began feeding the Rhine. Today's upper Danube is thus an underfit stream . Since the Swabian Alb is largely shaped of porous limestone , and since the Rhine's level is much lower than
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