All the energy we use comes from natural resources found in or on the earth. The electricity we use in our every day lives does not come directly from the earth. We make electricity by converting the the earth's resources, like coal or natural gas, water power, wind power, solar energy into electric power.
Coal and natural gas are called “fossil fuels” or "mineral fewls" because they were formed by extreme pressure deep under the earth from fossilised (the organic remains of dead) plants and amimals like dinosaurs, trees, fish.
The problem is that fossil fuels can't be replaced - Once we've burned them all, there isn't any more, and our consumption of fossil fuels has nearly doubled every 20 years since 1900.
This is a particular problem for oil, because we also use it to make plastics and many other products.Another problem is that fossil fuels can cause pollution.
Renewable energy effectively uses natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides and geothermal heat, which may be naturally replenished. Renewable energy technologies range from solar power, wind power, hydroelectricity/micro hydro, biomass and biofuels for transportation.
Renewable energy is also called “clean energy” or “green power” because it doesn’t pollute the air or the water.
Why don’t we use renewable energy all the time?
Unlike natural gas and coal, we can’t store up wind and sunshine to use whenever we need to make more electricity. If the wind doesn’t blow or the sun hides behind clouds, there wouldn’t be enough power for everyone.
Many people don’t realize that we do have technologies that are viable and can be used to generate energy cleanly. Another reason we use fossil fuels like coal and natural gas is because they’re cheaper. The one major hurdle to many of the alternate energy sources is economics. Oil is a very efficient energy source and there is still plenty of it. Not many products can produce 1,200 BTUs per Rand, and cost almost the same as bottled watter, and most people aren’t willing to pay more on their monthly utility bills.
How Electricity Is Made
Have you ever wondered where electricity comes from? Well surprisingly it comes from magnets!
In the early 1800s, Michael Faraday discovered “electromagnetic induction” – the scientific way of saying that if he moved a magnet through a loop of wire, the wire would become electrified.
In 1882, Thomas Edison opened the first full-scale power plant in New York City. Edison’s electric generator was a bigger version of Faraday’s basic experiment – a big magnet rotates around a wire to produce an electric current.
Today’s power plants are bigger and controlled by computers, but the basic process is still the same as it was nearly 120 years ago.
Here’s how power plants make electricity:
- Coal is dug up and sent on trains and boats.
- The trains and boats deliver the coal to the power plant.
- The coal is burned to heat water to make steam.
- Inside the generator, the steam spins a big fan called a turbine.
The spinning turbine rotates a big magnet around a length of wire, creating a magnetic field that electrifies the wire. The electric current flows through the wire and is pushed out through high-voltage transformers.
More ways to make electricity:
Instead of using coal, some power plants use other ways to make electricity:
- Some power plants burn natural gas instead of coal to make steam.
- A nuclear power plant splits apart uranium to release heat energy.
- A wind farm uses the wind to spin the blades of the turbine.
- A hydro power plant uses running or falling water to spin the turbine.