Hydroelectric energy: what is it? A hydroelectric water turbine is a rotary engine that generates electricity and is powered by the movement of water. Therefore, this can often be seen as green energy. A hydroelectric water turbine was first designed during the 19th century and was primarily used to create industrial power before power lines were invented. Surprisingly, hydropower technology hasn't changed much in the first 10 years since its invention. His concept was popular from the 1930s to the 1980s due to federal funding for the construction of large dams and hydroelectric plants. Today, hydropower accounts for approximately 96% of renewable energy in the United States. Oregon, for example, is home to some of the largest hydroelectric dams and some of the longest rivers in the United States. Oregon's largest dams are those on the Klamath and Columbia Rivers, which provide renewable energy to the state (Hunt, 1999). Now that we know what hydroelectric turbines are, how do they work? When a fluid, most likely water, pushes on the front of the turbine blade, it causes a pressure drop at the back of the turbine, causing the turbine blades to rotate. When these turbine blades spin, the rotor, which is attached to an axle connected to the blades, also spins. The Rotor is made up of a certain number of magnets facing North, South, North, South... clockwise. While this might be obvious, the faster the turbine blades spin, the more energy is generated. In some turbine generators, the stator, which is usually composed of a number of interconnected coils, may rotate on the axis with the turbine blades instead of on the rotor. In both cases you can create energy as long as the rotor or stator... center of the paper... and the efficiency starts to decrease. Works CitedCrawford, M. (2013). Wave currents and electrical potential: Hydrokinetics seeks to inject gigawatts of untapped water energy into the grid. (Master's Thesis), available from Gale. (A325174684).Hunt, R. Oregon (1999). Foundation for Water and Energy Education. Going with Nature's Flow: Hydropower in the Northwest. Jones, R. (2012, July 17). How hydraulic turbines work: recover energy from water. Retrieved from website: http://www.howitworksdaily.com/technology/how-water-turbines-work/Perlman, H. U.S. Department of the Interior, (2013). Hydroelectric energy: how it works. Retrieved from website: http://sa.water.usg.gov/edu/hyworks.html. US Department of Energy, Energy Information Administration. Washington, (2005).Annual Review of Energy, Facilities, and Techniques, 2000. DOE/EIA-0384 (2000).