Sources of Electricity

Were you aware that the majority of all the electricity used in the world today is generated by burning coal, the dirtiest, most polluting fossil fuel of them all? The reason for this is that it remains by far the cheapest way to produce large amounts of electricity. However, it is not the only way, as we shall see:

Of all the fossil fuels used for electricity production, natural gas is the one that is the least harmful to the environment, although the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, is still produced during its combustion. One of the reasons it is one of the most efficient methods is that the products of combustion can be used to provide additional propulsion for the steam turbine.

Although it is more commonly used as automobile fuel, petrol can also be used to heat water into the steam that turns a turbine. However, it is residual fuel oil, which is what is left over when crude oil has been refined into saleable products such as gas, automobile and aviation fuel, and plastic, that is used, as this can be purchased comparatively cheaply.

Currently, the only large-scale alternative to fossil fuel fired power stations is nuclear energy, which works by splitting the atoms of a nuclear fuel such as uranium, releasing a massive amount of heat which is used to vaporise the water that drives the steam turbines. Although this process does not produce carbon dioxide, other than indirectly through the energy required to split the atoms in the first place, it does produce quite a significant volume of dangerous nuclear waste.

Hydro Power is one of the simplest, and cleanest forms of electricity production available, as it merely relies upon the flow of water in a fast flowing river or through an outlet in a dam to power the turbines. However, the amount of power that can be produced in this way is limited due to the fact that hydro plants need to be located very specifically.

The hot rocks bubbling away beneath the apparently solid ground provide a potentially limitless source of heat for electricity generation, although at the moment the technology used by Geothermal power stations can only really be used in places where these geothermal rocks are close to the surface, and natural hot springs abound.

The energy radiated by the sun can be trapped and turned into electricity by devices known as solar panels, or photovoltaic cells. Solar power can also take the form of using concentrated heat energy from the sun to heat water for steam turbines, and this process is known as solar thermal electricity generation.

Many people believe that the future of electricity generation, certainly in the UK, could lie with Wind Power, which uses the motion of a windmill to drive an electricity-producing dynamo. They are, unfortunately, rather intermittent, due to their dependence on weather conditions for their output.

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