User:Sader94/sandbox/New sandbox

Emad's Sandbox
This is my sandbox. My sandbox began at the commencement of my semester in ERTH4303 at Carleton University. My student number is 100888627 and this will be where I submit most of my assignments.

Article Evaluation
This is an article evaluation of Hydropower, a source of energy discussed in lecture of ERTH4303 at Carleton University. I will discuss relevant strengths and weaknesses of the article, as well as my suggestions to the improvement of the article's integrity. This article evaluation will hopefully help me and whoever reads this to understand more about the existing, accessible knowledge on Hydropower and what could be done to help the average reader learn about Hydro power.

Article Class
This article is designated as a Start-Class and a High-importance article.

Clarity
The article has only headings and one subheading. This did provide clarity, but perhaps the lack of subheadings is simply due to a lack of contribution to the article. The introductory sentence was clear and concise. The writer does a power job in transitioning from one topic to another. Calculating the amount of available power should not be the next talked about heading after History. Readers who usually want to read about hydro power are general knowledge seekers. mentioning and discussing a complicated equation like Calculating the amount of available power should not be a priority. Especially in a short article.

Structure and Coverage
The descriptive phrase to start the article was very brief and explanatory and could give the average reader a very basic understanding of what Hydro power is. Energy should be talked about in more detail. kinetic and potential energy and how that related to hydro power production. no mention of environmental impacts of dams on the ecosystem.

Neutrality
In terms of bias, I believe that this article is not biased. The article outlines Hydro power in general with no mention of a specific leading corporation in terms pf turning hydro power in energy. Really not much space for a bias to exist.

15 Assignment: Start Drafting your Contributions - Everyone has started writing
The article that I chose for further editing and improving is the Hydroelectricity in Canada Wikipedia article. the article does not discuss the environmental impacts that building dams have on the ecosystem surrounding the dam. Also, the article does not include a "Hydro power in Canada" section. The article will improve by adding scientific information based on scholarly research. The research added will bring fourth important info and data on the impact dams have on plant and animal habitat and perhaps how they have coped.

Hydroelectricity in Canada
From the late 1800s onward, hydro power stations have been constructed from coast to coast in Canada. Just as the construction of the national railway helped to define Canada as a country, so too did hydro power development. In Canada, the first use of water to produce electricity was for a wheel built by the Ottawa Electric Light Company at Chaudières Falls in 1881. It was used to power street lights and local mills. A few years later, street lamps on the Terrasse Dufferin in Quebec City were powered by a plant at Montmorency Falls, while lamps were lit in Montreal by a plant on the Lachine rapids. In southern Ontario, the oldest high-head hydro power generating station in Canada opened at DeCew Falls.

The sources for electricity generation in Canada are diverse. They include natural gas, oil, coal, nuclear power, biomass, solar and wind power, and water. Over the years, hydropower has been the leading source of electricity in Canada, and its predominance continues today. More than 70,000 megawatts of hydro power have already been developed in Canada. Approximately 475 hydroelectric generating plants across the country produce an average of 355 terawatt hours per year — one tera watt hour represents enough electricity to heat and power 40,000 houses.

Environmental impacts of constructing dams
Dams and reservoirs are used for numerous reasons, such as flood control, agriculture irrigation, and recreation. But the main reason being Hydroelectric power. Hydroelectric power generating facilities have an extensive impact on aquatic ecosystems.

Wildlife Impacts
Apart from direct contact with turbine blades. wildlife can be impacted through dammed upstream flow and limited downstream flow from the hydroelectric facility. while reservoir water will exist to support the surrounding ecosystem, that water is stagnant compared to normal running river water. As a result higher than usual amounts of sediments and nutrients will exist, thus excess of algae and aquatic weeds. Aquatic weeds that grows in excess amount will crowd out other river species and must be controlled either manually or by adding a new plant species that can feed on these plants. Stagnant water is lost through evaporation at a much higher rate than in normal running water. This will increase water temperature and will affect temperature sensitive species. whether on feeding habits or on their living habitat and ability to adapt to the increase in water temperature.

Land Use
The construction of dams often requires the need to flood surrounding areas. Depending on the size of the dam and its topographic location, flooding land destroys forests, wildlife habitat, and agriculture land. In many cases such as in China and Egypt, entire communities had to be relocated to make way.

Life-cycle Global Warming Emissions
During the installation and dismantling of Hydroelectric power plants global warming emissions (GWE) are generated. In recent years, research has shown that significant global warming emission are generated during the facilities operation. The GWE numbers for Canada are relatively low compared to other countries.

After an area has been flooded for dam construction,the soil and vegetation underneath decomposes and releases carbon dioxide and methane. Depending of the size of the power plant, current estimates suggest that emissions are hovering around 0.5 pounds of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour of energy produced. to put that into perspective, Canada generated an estimated 580 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity in 2015.

Impact on Fish Habitat
Fish habitat is most affected by dams and reservoirs. Dams impact downstream water quality by altering the direction of water needed for healthy in-stream ecosystems. Slow reservoir pools clutter migrating fish and rapidly increase the period of their migration. In addition, bacteria present in decomposing vegetation can also alter the chemical state of mercury, present in rocks underlying a reservoir, into a form that is soluble in water. The mercury accumulates in the bodies of fish and presents a health hazard to those who depend on these fish for food.

Vincent's long wall mining
The lead is very well done and easy to follow with well-informed information. The structure of this section is great however I feel that maybe adding some sub-headings would improve the quality of the article even more. The sub-headings would allow for the reader to be directed more easily to sections that are relevant to what they are looking for. Overall, this section is fairly well done with only minor tweaks needed as explained above.

Matt Bio fuel in Canada
The lead is very well done and easy to follow with well informed information about what bio-energy and biomass is. The structure of this section is great however I feel that maybe adding some sub-headings would improve the quality of the article even more. Good background of each of the 4 types of renewable energy. The Bio-energy section has a sentence saying that Canada "has an abundant amount of biomass products available". The language used in the article is good, it uses terms that could be understood by those of many backgrounds. There is a good mix of peer-reviewed references as well as news sources. "Canada's current installed capacity" is a great resource, and maybe it could be implemented in the article as an image.

March 7th Peer review response
Thank you Matt. Will do

Mmacmillan1's Peer Review for Hydro power in Canada[edit]
I am assuming that you would still like to add an Hydro power in Canada section to the Hydro power article. I would suggest adding on to the Hydroelectricity in Canada article instead. Here you can expand on the electrical generation side of hydropower as well as discuss the ecological and environmental impacts of this power source.

The lead is well done. It is interesting to begin with the history and first use of hydroelectricity in Canada. The content is neutral overall, which is good. I would suggest further expanding on electrical power generation, by looking into how each province/territory in Canada manages this source of energy. Give examples of current and future hydro power projects in each province. Furthermore, you can look into government policies (if any) concerning this energy and maybe touch on how people perceive hydropower in Canada. Then, as stated earlier, you can discuss the environmental and ecological impacts of dams.

This section will be a great addition to the article. The content that you have so far is a good start.

Critiquing articles
Coming out of high school it was always stressed by my teacher to not use Wikipedia as a credible source of information. Wikipedia ensures that the information that is shared with the public is the most true up to date information that can be provided. Although, no matter their quality, the articles were accessible to the public. a great deal about Wikipedia I had not known before taking this course and my advancement on the current Wikipedia assignment. One of the things I learned was that Wikipedia offered many resources to help generate and modify articles. I also learned that to make sure that you can trust the information in an article, there are signs to look for. These signs include warning banners, fragmented lead section, value statements, gaps in sourcing, under-developed reference section, and imbalanced sections. Another thing that I learned was that of the sandbox. I believe the sandbox is a very useful tool in that it helps to assist in making drafts and edits before officially adding them to the Wikipedia article.

My contributions to this article were contributing information and creating full paragraphs with new information. As far as deciding what to add to the Wikipedia article, I generally tried to ask what information I would want to know if I were reading the article. The article I chose to critique and better was that of Hydro power. The reason i chose hydro power is because a majority of Ontario energy supply is generated through Hydro power. Also, I am finishing up my environmental science degree and so i decided to add an environmental impacts of building dams to my article.

Summarizing your contributions
The contributions that i have added and have yet to add are to the Hydro power article currently posted on Wikipedia. I have added a "Hydro power in Canada" section but i am still yet to add an environmental impacts of building dams section. I have obviously edited, peer reviewed, and evaluated my peers' Wikipedia work throughout the course.

Peer review
We were instructed to peer review 2 different articles. Peer reviewing showed me a new way to look at my own article. It gave me an idea of what I should personally change and add in my own work. factors included the structure of the lead section of the article, the balance of the sections, the neutrality of the information and the sources. All important in the assessment process.

I did receive one review, and it was all positive feedback. A feedback that i found interesting was to move my work from the "Hydro power" page on Wikipedia to the "Hydroelectricity" page on Wikipedia.

Feedback
I did receive one review, and it was all positive feedback. A feedback that i found interesting was to move my work from the "Hydro power" page on Wikipedia to the "Hydroelectricity" page on Wikipedia. I have decided against that because the Hydroelectricity article on wikipedia includes 7 sections and 26 subsections while the Hydro power article on Wikipedia includes 3 sections and 3 subsections.

Wikipedia generally
As of right now, Wikipedia articles can be changed by anyone who has an account. I believe that to improve Wikipedia’s content, regulations should be more strict. Maybe then more instructors would let students use wikipedia as a credible source for research. Making sure my sources were up to date and credible compared to other assignments was where i felt like i need to focus more on.