There were a total of 81 million recreation user days provided at FERC licensed hydropower projects in 1990. Boating, skiing, camping, picnic areas and boat launch facilities are all supported by hydropower. And Inexpensive Today's hydropower turbines are capable of converting 90 percent of available energy into electricity. That is more efficient than any other form of generation. Even the best fossil fuel power plant is only about 50 percent efficient.
Hydroelectricity is one of the lowest cost forms of energy for the American electricity consumer.
In 1996, hydropower ranged from less than one cent to just over two cents per kilowatt-hour to generate. The efficiency of hydropower, while impressive, can be further improved simply by refurbishing existing equipment. Increasing the efficiency of hydropower machinery in the existing system by only one percent would increase the United States' annual generation of electricity by about 3.3 billion kilowatt-hours, supplying more than 300,000 households. Water from rivers is a purely domestic resource that is not subject to disruptions from foreign suppliers, production strikes or transportation issues.