Sources of Electricity

                                                                                         

Most of the electricity produced in the world today is produced by dirty, polluting coal-fired power plants, for the simple reason that this remains the cheapest way of producing electricity on a large scale. There are, however, other ways in which it can be produced:

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 petroleum power stations do exist, they do not run on the type of fuel that you might put in your car. Instead, they use residual fuel oil, which is a cheap by-product of the crude oil refining process. Although this is cleaner than coal, petroleum fired power stations are still amongst the worst polluters.

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.

The kinetic energy in a flowing river or the outlet from a dam is what spins the turbines in Hydro Power stations. Although they are completely non-polluting and totally renewable, they have quite a detrimental effect on river ecosystems, and often run into planning difficulties as a result.

One potentially massive source of heat is the hot rocks just below the surface of the earth. Although Geothermal power plants currently only exist in locations where these rocks are unusually near the surface, sending underground water shooting through the surface in the form of a hot spring, it is hoped that advances in drilling technology will eventually mean that these plants can be built anywhere in the world.

Photovoltaic cells, also known as solar panels, can trap the energy in the suns solar rays and turn it into electricity. The heat from the sun can also be focussed using special lenses to heat water for steam turbines in a process known as solar thermal generation.

Finally, Wind Power, one of the fastest growing of all the renewable sources of electricity, works by using a good old fashioned windmill to drive a generator directly. However, the power generated in this way is as intermittent as the wind itself, although engineers are increasingly finding ways around this.

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