Hydro power has been used ever since water runs down hill and the invention of the water wheel. In this country the big projects are Columbia river dams, TVA dams, Niagara Falls diversion power plant, Colorado River – Hoover Dam. All completed at least 40 years ago and out of the news since that time. In the seventies during one of the energy crises one of the small utility companies looked into putting water turbines at the numerous dams spotted all over New England for furnishing for a canal system long abandoned.

They decided it was too expensive and a nightmare to keep track of all the units. What’s new in the North East is the construction of hydropower Plants in Quebec in the narrow river valleys that drain into the St. Lawrence River. They sell power as far south as Long Island. This came at a time when LILCO was struggling with the Shoreham Nuclear Power fiasco. Hydro Power is not quite perfectly reliable though. A recent example in the Northwest a few years ago when light snowfall and light run off required rationing where the utility paid the aluminum plant to shut down to conserve water. Quebec also had a problem where extreme cold weather cut power production enough that some steam plants had to delay their planned maintenance outages.

Garbage is inexhaustible it seems and a growing concern for municipalities. I grew up on Long Island and back in the forties they use to dump it in a big pile and light a match to it. The resultant stink was quite memorable. Growth of Nassau and Suffolk counties of course led to some deep thinking. There are old sand mines they started to dump in but they stunk too. Several towns tried several types of incinerators which was an improvement lost their licenses due to emissions. Finally they built 2 large plants that used technology developed to destroy chemical weapons to burn the trash and use the heat to make steam to run generators. They charge to unload the trash then turn around and sell the power.

A nice operation but compared with hydro power it require diligent maintenance and close control of operations. At this time 2 plants consume all of Nassau and Suffolk’s trash and I think they are getting some from Brooklyn and Queens. New York City closed its land fills and has to transport the trash out of the state possibly all the way to Africa. Trash going from New York to the Long Island incinerators is probably illegal which means you have to grease a palm or two. They plan to double the capacity of the West Hempstead Plant so its not hard to figure out. This solution to major problem of what to do with the refuse, the preferred term, has everyone to relax and worry about something less stressful.

Both of these methods of extracting energy are now well established and out of consciousness. They are listed as either “other” or “alternative” in most breakdowns of total power generation by energy type.