A resource of energy
Most of the mountain regions in areas with a humid and temperate climate, including Italy, have a high production of hydroelectric power. This is an important item in the national energy accounts.
The water of the mountain torrents flows down great drops, which determine an optimum energetic potential, but generally the outputs of the torrents are too variable to be exploited continually. Glacier melt waters guarantee a supply of large quantities of water in the summer season, when the other courses of water have run dry. It is sufficient to compare, with equal precipitation, the summer output of water courses in the Alps and in Central and Southern Italy, to realize the importance of the existence of glacier bodies in the surface water regimen.
For this reason many hydroelectric plants in the mountain areas are fed by ice melt waters, and in very many cases water is tapped directly from the torrents that form from the glaciers. Countries like Switzerland, Austria, Italy and New Zealand were among the first to exploit the productive potentiality of ice waters. At the start of the Seventies, 64% of the energy requirement in Switzerland was covered by the production of the hydroelectric power plants, that were mostly fed directly or indirectly by water melting from the glaciers. In the Italian Alps, there are a number of examples in the mountain regions in the north, in the regions of Piedmont, Valle d’Aosta, Trentino-Alto Adige and Lombardy, where the presence of glaciers enables an intensive use of water as a source of energy.
One of the most imposing examples of exploitation of the water resources of the Alpine glaciers is the gravity dam in Dixence in Val des Dix in Switzerland. With its 285 m wall, it is the highest in the Alpine range and one of the highest in the world, supporting a reservoir with a capacity of 400 million m3. With a network of over 100 km of underground galleries and channel shunts , it collects the waters of the Cheilon Glacier and the glaciers coming from Mount Rosa and the Matterhorn, with plants that cover an overall surface area of 357 km2, half of which are covered by glaciers (data: Smiraglia, 1992).
Special reports
-
15 April 2014
How rich are we …. in blue gold?
Water footprint, water availability and use on a planetary scale...
18 May 2011
Artificial photosynthesis
The history of science and technology is packed with discoveries and inventions inspired by nature...
-
13 May 2013
Small steps, great footprints
Have you ever wondered how much space is taken up by an apple or a steak?...
27 September 2012
Over 7 billion people on Earth
Demographers have estimated that on 31 October 2011 world population...
-
10 September 2020
A simple and ingenious invention
There are objects so simple and ordinary that we forget their existence when we don't need them. Their presence is…
17 March 2020
Energy and renewable sources: what is the current status?
The unstoppable growth of renewable sources continues…
-
15 April 2014
How rich are we …. in blue gold?
Water footprint, water availability and use on a planetary scale...
-
18 May 2011
Artificial photosynthesis
The history of science and technology is packed with discoveries and inventions inspired by nature...
-
13 May 2013
Small steps, great footprints
Have you ever wondered how much space is taken up by an apple or a steak?...
27 September 2012
Over 7 billion people on Earth
Demographers have estimated that on 31 October 2011 world population...
-
15 April 2014
How rich are we …. in blue gold?
Water footprint, water availability and use on a planetary scale...
-
18 May 2011
Artificial photosynthesis
The history of science and technology is packed with discoveries and inventions inspired by nature...
From the Multimedia section
Facts
-
The “wave-swallowing” dragon
Wave Dragon, that swallows waves and generates electricity is a plant...
Bio-climatic architecture
Solar energy is playing a vital role with reference to bioclimatic architecture...
The photovoltaic train
In Italy the PVTRAIN project by Trenitalia (co-financed by the European Union) plans...
-
The plant of Almeria
In the Tabernas desert, 30 km north-east of the Andalusia town of Almeria (Spain)...
-
Italian offshore wind farm
The first Italian wind farm will be installed in the waters of the Strait of Otranto...
An artificial geyser
Electric and thermal power produced from geothermal energy depend on the existence of underground infiltrations...
A hydrogen house
In Settimo, a municipality close to Turin, the first Unité d’Abitation has been created...
-
16 May 2011
The “wave-swallowing” dragon
Wave Dragon, that swallows waves and generates electricity is a plant...
Bio-climatic architecture
Solar energy is playing a vital role with reference to bioclimatic architecture...
-
The photovoltaic train
In Italy the PVTRAIN project by Trenitalia (co-financed by the European Union) plans...
The plant of Almeria
In the Tabernas desert, 30 km north-east of the Andalusia town of Almeria (Spain)...
-
16 May 2011
The “wave-swallowing” dragon
Wave Dragon, that swallows waves and generates electricity is a plant...
-
Bio-climatic architecture
Solar energy is playing a vital role with reference to bioclimatic architecture...
-
The photovoltaic train
In Italy the PVTRAIN project by Trenitalia (co-financed by the European Union) plans...