I am the chief engineer and residing at one of the oldest hydroelectric plants in the world. The Ouray hydroelectric plant is owned by Hydrowest, Inc. Here is a Wikipedia article about the plant. I started working for the hydro plant in June 2010. Before that I had extensive experience working as a chief engineer on yachts starting in 2001.
The hydroelectric plant is a clean source of energy which doesn't produce the CO2 that many other forms of energy generation do. If you are interested in climate change Ricky Rood has science oriented blog about it.
The hydroelectric plant is located in Ouray, Colorado. The water for the plant comes from the Uncompahgre_River. Here is a graph of the current flow rate from the USGS.
What's new in Alternative Energy


Posted by timothy on Friday June 17, @07:05AM from the now-with-less-cornholing dept. T Murphy writes "Although the measure is not expected to become law, a Senate vote 73-27 in favor of repealing ethanol subsidies and tariffs means a lot for future legislation. The White House stands opposed to changes in the subsidies or tariffs, so they will likely go untouched before they expire at the end of the year. Even so, this is a strong indication that such government support for ethanol will be reduced if not eliminated. The response to the Senate vote has been mixed, from corn prices falling, to the World Bank encouraging lower food prices, to concerns over reduced funding for alternative energy, to supporters of such budget cuts."

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday March 09 2011, @09:39PM from the new-and-improved dept. coondoggie writes "Researchers say they have developed a method of using bacteria to convert decaying grass directly into isobutanol, which can be burned in regular car engines with a heat value higher than ethanol but similar to gasoline. The research could mean great savings in processing costs and time, plus isobutanol is a higher grade of alcohol than ethanol, according to the Department of Energy's BioEnergy Science Center (BESC) and its Oak Ridge National Laboratory"

Posted by samzenpus on Sunday March 06 2011, @02:23AM from the no-time-like-the-present dept. Hugh Pickens writes writes "Adam Werbach writes that in July 2008 oil prices reached $147 a barrel and suddenly energy prices and alternative energy was on everyone's agenda but soon oil prices fell as the economy faltered and people moved on to the more immediate concerns of keeping their jobs and businesses alive. Now with the possibility looming of $200 a barrel oil, the US has a robust field of clean energy technologies that are slowly coming online, from thinfilm solar to fuel cells to cellulosic ethanol — unlike 2008, when it seemed like we were starting our innovation engine from a cold start. 'In the last three years, as oil prices have softened, we've seen stumbles as companies like Applied Materials pulled back from the clean energy space because of operational and market conditions,' writes Werbach. '2012 will be a rich year for equity capitalizations, giving energy entrepreneurs the capital they need to build infrastructure. Even with the draconian austerity measures that are coming into effect across the country, this is a second opportunity for energy innovation.'"

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday February 19 2011, @11:54AM from the if-that-doesn't-work-we'll-have-to-invade dept. Whatsmynickname writes "Thought oil companies were done patent trolling to try to shut down any efforts to wean us off of crude oil (e.g. Chevron and NiMH batteries)? Think again. BP and DuPont (Butamax) have taken an advanced biofuel company to court over infringement of newly awarded patents for developing biobutanol. When an oil company advertises it is looking for alternative fuels, it's not necessarily because they want to be socially responsible..."

Posted by Roblimo on Tuesday February 08 2011, @08:35PM from the energy-and-vitamins-in-one-healthy-package dept. An anonymous reader writes "If Popeye had made alternative fuels, he'd have probably come up with something like this. Researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have developed a system that converts solar energy directly into hydrogen using the common spinach plant."