Hydroelectric power is generated when falling water turns turbines. Many years a

Question

Hydroelectric power is generated when falling water turns turbines. Many years ago, so the story goes, a member of the U.S. Congress came up with a scheme to increase the power output of hydroelectric power plants. Water generates power, he reasoned, by falling from a high to a low elevation. Thus it is obvious that more power can be produced by pumping water after it has passed through the turbines to its previous high elevation and allowing it to again flow downward through the turbines. What do you think of this scheme?

Explanation / Answer

The power gained by falling would be cancelled out by the power used to pump it back up. Plus the machines are nowhere near 100% efficient so they'd be wasting a lot of energy.

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