logo   home menu links credits
Energy
Sun, wind and water
Animal and Human
Organic fuels
Fossil fuels
Electricity
main image Hydro-electric energy, Loch Sloy, Dunbartonshire
The turbine was invented in the 1890s as a way of producing mechanical power, initially to drive ships. Soon it was realised that if water descending under gravity was passed through a turbine, it could be used to drive an electric generator.

This technology was particularly useful in the west Highlands, where there is a high level of rainfall. Dams were built, most of them between 1945 and 1960, to create reservoirs of water. The turbines were in a power station at a lower level.

Electricity was transmitted to the user by power lines slung on pylons. This had an unhappy effect on the landscape.


Resource pack
  1     2     3     4     5