Electricity, How Is It Produced?

Long ago before the world power crisis, one of our greatest discoveries was electricity, discovered by Benjamin Franklin when he flew a kite during an electrical storm, he attached a metal key to the kite string close to the kite. After that man began to find different ways to produce electricity, then over time humans also found ways to produce electricity in greater and greater amounts. The first thing humans started to use to produce electricity was a non-renewable energy source, such as fossil fuel, natural gas, water and as time passed, nuclear fission, with the discovery of uranium. Also, in time humans learned to use the sun and the wind which are renewable energy sources.

Electricity, exactly how is it produced?

The easiest way to explain how electricity is made is to take a look at the alternator in your automobile, as the alternator spins it produces electricity that keeps your battery charged. Generators much like the alternator in your car, the difference being that your alternator is very small in comparison to the very large house sized generators used to produce the power you use in your home. Fan belts connected to your engine turn the alternator so when your engine is running the alternator is spinning producing electricity to keep the battery charged and supply the car?s electrical requirements. However, to turn a generator that produces the power that you use in your home they use turbines, turbines are like huge fans, when you force air, water, or steam through the blades they begin to spin. When you connect the generator to the fan and when the fan is turning it turns the generator and the generator produces power.

Now let us look at some of the non-renewable energy sources and renewable energy sources that we use to turn a turbine and the differences between them. Renewable energy sources as you will see are much better for the environment.

Non-renewable energy sources:

~ Fossil fuels - consist of crude oil, coal, and natural gases are all used to heat water to bring it to the boiling point in what is commonly known as a boiler, this turns the water into steam then the steam is forced through the turbine which makes the turbine rotate. Man has used fossil fuel for a long time and the problem with that is, they pollute the air and the supply is very limited.

~ Water - Man has been building dams for a long time, We build them to obstruct the flow of rivers to make larger bodies of water like small lakes that serve a couple of purposes, one is to make reservoirs for storing fresh water that we drink daily. Another purpose is to rotate those massive turbines that turn the large generators that make electricity. Hoover Dam, is one such dam which creates massive amounts of power. One could consider water a renewable energy source and it does not pollute the air but it negatively impacts the ecosystem downstream from the dam, again an adverse impact on the environment.

~ Nuclear Power - Is much the same as burning fossil fuel the difference being that instead of burning fuel to produce the heat to turn water into steam atoms are split with neutrons which produce more neutrons which in turn split more atoms causing a chain reaction, these chain reactions produce very large amounts of heat. Primary coolant water is then used to cool the reactor?s core where the atoms are being split then a secondary coolant system is used to cool the primary coolant water. The heat from the primary coolant water turns the secondary coolant water into steam to turn the turbines, it is then cooled and condensed back to into water and sent back to cool the primary water that cools the reactor core. The biggest problem with nuclear power is the radioactivity, the devastating effects of a meltdown if it occurs, and the waste from used up uranium which can remain radioactive for hundreds of years. Once again unlike renewable energy sources terrible for the environment.

Renewable energy sources:

~ Solar Power - The best source of electricity that will last for as long as the sun burns. Solar panels collect the sun?s energy and store it in solar cells so that even on a cloudy day or at night there is stored up power that can still be used. Solar power is not only a renewable energy source but is also very good for the environment as it does not pollute.

~ Wind Power - Wind is another excellent renewable energy source. Windmills have been used for a very long time to do things like pump water, turn large mills for grinding wheat and oat and more recently to produce power. The only draw back would be the region in which you live. If you live in a low wind region, you may not get enough air flow to spin the windmill’s blades.

Non-renewable energy sources took millions of years to produce and we are using them up very quickly, to conserve what is left we must look to renewable energy sources as a viable solution to the quickly exhausting non renewable ones.

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