I grew up next to a couple of aluminium smelters. They ran on hydro electricity, basically what happened was a ton of water was released from a reservoir high up on a hillside down some massive pipes. The water turned the turbines to generate the electricity and at night, when electricity was cheaper, they’d pump the water back up the hill again. The water outflow from the factory was called the Tailrace and it used to terrify me as a young child, they sent it down these concrete half pipes out into the loch and it was so fast, it looked almost boiling and it wasn’t until I visited Niagara Falls that I saw water quite as ‘angry’ as that again.
Factory is long closed now, and I don’t know where we get aluminium from. Probably China. Anyway, here’s a picture of the hydro pipes on the hill and thanks for indulging my (mildly terrifying) h2O memories of long ago.
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