NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Electric power generation

Electricity generation is the first process in the delivery of electricity to consumers. The other three processes are electric power transmission, electricity distribution and electricity retailing. Itaipu Dam File links The following pages link to this file: Electricity generation Itaipu Hydroelectricity ... Itaipu Dam File links The following pages link to this file: Electricity generation Itaipu Hydroelectricity ... Itaipu Dam Itaipu (Guarani: Itaipu, Portuguese: Itaipu, Spanish: ItaipÃº; pronounced ) is a dam that includes a hydroelectric power plant. ... Hydroelectric Reservoir Vianden, Luxembourg (tower) Hydroelectric Reservoir Vianden, Luxembourg Hydroelectricity is electricity obtained from hydropower. ... Lightning strikes during a night-time thunderstorm. ... Transmission lines in Lund, Sweden Electric power transmission is one process in the delivery of electricity to consumers. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Electricity retailing is the final process in the delivery of electricity from generation to the consumer. ...

Electricity generation

The importance of dependable electricity generation, transmission and distribution was revealed when it became apparent that electricity was useful for providing heat, light and power for human activities. Ccentralised power generation became possible when it was recognised that alternating current electric power lines can transport electricity at low costs across great distances by taking advantage of the ability to transform the voltage using power transformers. Download high resolution version (516x806, 50 KB)Electric system US390721 This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Download high resolution version (516x806, 50 KB)Electric system US390721 This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... Nikola Tesla (July 10, 1856 - c. ... City lights viewed in a motion blurred exposure. ... Transmission lines in Lund, Sweden Electric power transmission is one process in the delivery of electricity to consumers. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Lightning strikes during a night-time thunderstorm. ... City lights viewed in a motion blurred exposure. ... Lightning strikes during a night-time thunderstorm. ... International danger high voltage symbol. ... Three-phase pole-mounted step-down transformer A transformer is an electrical device that transfers energy from one circuit to another by magnetic coupling with no moving parts. ...

Electricity has been generated for the purpose of powering human technologies for at least 120 years from various sources of potential energy. The first power plants were run on wood, while today we rely mainly on petroleum, natural gas, coal, hydroelectric and nuclear power and a small amount from hydrogen, solar energy, tidal harnesses, wind generators, and geothermal sources. Potential energy is stored energy. ... It has been suggested that black gold (oil) be merged into this article or section. ... Natural gas, commonly referred to as gas, is a gaseous fossil fuel consisting primarily of methane. ... Coal is a fossil fuel extracted from the ground by underground mining or open-pit mining (surface mining). ... Hydroelectric Reservoir Vianden, Luxembourg (tower) Hydroelectric Reservoir Vianden, Luxembourg Hydroelectricity is electricity obtained from hydropower. ... Core of a small nuclear reactor used for research. ... â€¹ The template below has been proposed for deletion. ... Solar power describes a number of methods of harnessing energy from the light of the sun. ... Tidal power is a means of electricity generation achieved by capturing the energy contained in moving water mass due to tides. ... A tall tower holds a wind turbine aloft where winds are consistently stronger. ... Geothermal power is electricity generated by utilizing naturally occurring geological heat sources. ...

Electricity demand

The demand for electricity can be met in two different ways. The primary method thus far has been for public or private utilities to construct large scale centralized projects to generate and transmit the electricity required to fuel growing economies. Many of these projects have unpleasant environmental effects such as air or radiation pollution and the flooding of large areas of land.

Increasingly, distributed generation is seen as an alternate way to supply the electrical demand close to the users. Smaller, distributed projects can: Distributed generation is a new trend in electric power generation. ...

Transmission lines in Lund, Sweden Electric power transmission is one process in the delivery of electricity to consumers. ...

Methods of generating electricity

Methods for transforming other power into electrical power

Rotating turbines attached to electrical generators produce most commercially available electricity. Turbines may be driven by using steam, water, wind or other fluids as an intermediate energy carrier. The most common usage is by steam in fossil fuel power plants or nuclear power plants, and by water in hydroelectric dams. Alternately, turbines can be driven directly by the combustion of natural gas. Combined cycle gas turbine plants offer efficiencies of up to 60%. They generate power by burning natural gas in a gas turbine and use residual heat to generate additional electricity from steam. Wind turbines generate electricity by using the wind. Solar chimneys use wind that is artificially produced inside the chimney by heating it with sunlight. Solar parabolic troughs and solar power towers concentrate sunlight to heat a heat transfer fluid that is used to produce steam to turn a turbine. Small electricity generators are often powered by reciprocating engines burning diesel, biogas or natural gas. Diesel engines are usually used on ships, remote building sites or for emergency standby. Diesel is also used in some peaking power plants, especially as a backup fuel. Biogas is often combusted where it is produced, such as a landfill or wastewater treatment plant, with a reciprocating engine or a microturbine, which is a small gas turbine. WWII era ship propulsion turbine A turbine is a rotary engine that extracts energy from a fluid flow. ... An electrical generator is a device that produces electrical energy from a mechanical energy source. ... A fossil fuel power plant is an energy conversion center that combusts fossil fuels to produce electricity, designed on a large scale for continuous operation. ... A nuclear power station. ... A Hydroelectric Dam converts a River into a Large Reservoir and transforms the potential energy of the river into Electrical Power. ... Combustion or burning is a chemical process, an exothermic reaction between a substance (the fuel) and a gas (the oxidizer), usually O2, to release heat. ... In a combined cycle power plant, or combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant, a gas turbine generator generates electricity and the waste heat from the gas turbine is used to make steam to generate additional electricity via a steam turbine, this last step enhances the efficiency of electricity generation. ... This machine has a single-stage radial compressor and turbine, a recuperator, and foil bearings. ... Horizontal axis wind turbine, the Enercon model E-66 wind energy converter, in Germany. ... A solar chimney is an apparatus for harnessing solar energy by convection of heated air. ... A parabolic trough is a type of solar thermal collector. ... A solar power tower is a solar power station based on a tower. ... Components of a typical, four stroke cycle, DOHC piston engine. ... Diesel or Diesel fuel is a specific fractional distillate of fuel oil (mostly petroleum) that is used as fuel in a diesel engine invented by German engineer Rudolf Diesel. ... Biogas, also called digester gas, typically refers to methane produced by the fermentation of organic matter including manure, wastewater sludge, municipal solid waste, or any other biodegradable feedstock, under anaerobic conditions. ...

Fuel cells produce electricity using a variety of chemicals and are seen by some people to be the most likely source of power in the long term, especially if hydrogen can be used as the feedstock. However, hydrogen is usually only an energy carrier, and must be formed by some other power source. A fuel cell is an electrochemical device similar to a battery, but differing from the latter in that it is designed for continuous replenishment of the reactants consumed; i. ... â€¹ The template below has been proposed for deletion. ... An energy carrier is simply any system or substance used to transfer energy from somewhere to somewhere else. ...

Stirling engines produce electricity using a temperature difference. They are used to produce electricity in solar dishes, solar ponds and from low temperature waste heat from power plants and industrial processes. Thermocouples also produce electricity from temperature differences, but they have not been used for commercial electricity generation. A Stirling engine and generator set with 55 kW electrical output, for combined heat and power applications. ... A Solar pond is large-scale solar energy collector with integral heat storage for supplying thermal energy. ... In electronics, thermocouples are a widely used type of temperature sensor and can also be used as a means to convert thermal energy into electrical energy. ...

Photovoltaic panels generate electricity directly from sunlight. Solar Panel (photovoltaic array) Solar panels are collections of solar cells used for capturing the energy in sunlight. ... Prism splitting light Sunlight in the broad sense is the total spectroscopy|spectrum of electromagnetic radiationb given off by the Sun. ...

Primary energy sources used in electrical power generation

The world relies mainly on coal and natural gas for power. The high capital requirements of nuclear power and the fear of its dangers have prevented the ordering of new nuclear power plants in North America since the 1970s. Image File history File links Fuel shares of world electricity generation. ... Image File history File links Fuel shares of world electricity generation. ... Image File history File links U.S. electricity generation by source (2003) From http://www. ... Image File history File links U.S. electricity generation by source (2003) From http://www. ... Coal is a fossil fuel extracted from the ground by underground mining or open-pit mining (surface mining). ... Natural gas, commonly referred to as gas, is a gaseous fossil fuel consisting primarily of methane. ... Core of a small nuclear reactor used for research. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ...

Steam turbines can be powered using steam produced from geothermal sources, solar energy, or Nuclear reactors, which use the energy created by the fission of radioactive plutonium or uranium to generate heat. Nuclear power plants often use a primary and secondary steam circuit to add an additional layer of protection between the location of the nuclear fuel and the generator room. A rotor of a modern steam turbine, used in a power plant A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into useful mechanical work. ... Geothermal power is electricity generated by utilizing naturally occurring geological heat sources. ... Solar power describes a number of methods of harnessing energy from the light of the sun. ... Core of a small nuclear reactor used for research. ...

Hydroelectric power plants use water flowing directly through the turbines to power the generators. Tidal harnesses use the force of the moon on bodies of water to spin a turbine. Wind turbines use wind to turn turbines that are hooked up to a generator. Pumped-storage hydroelectricity is used to level demands on the power grid. Hydroelectric dam diagram The waters of Llyn Stwlan, the upper reservoir of the Ffestiniog Pumped-Storage Scheme in north Wales, can just be glimpsed on the right. ... Horizontal axis wind turbine, the Enercon model E-66 wind energy converter, in Germany. ... Pumped storage hydroelectricity is a method of storing and producing electricity to supply high peak demands by moving water between reservoirs at different elevations. ... Grid energy storage is the use of various energy storage techniques to complement electric power generation plants on the transmission grid. ... Transmission towers Transmission lines in Lund, Sweden Electric power transmission, or more accurately Electrical energy transmission, is the second process in the delivery of electricity to consumers. ...

Power generation by thermonuclear fusion has been suggested as a possible way of generating electricity; currently a number of technical obstacles and environmental concerns stand in the way, but if realized fusion might provide a relatively clean and safe source of electrical power. The construction of a large experimental reactor (ITER) is expected to commence in 2005-2006. In physics, nuclear fusion (a thermonuclear reaction) is a process in which two nuclei join, forming a larger nucleus and releasing energy. ... Cutaway of the ITER Tokamak Torus in casing. ...

Improving efficiency

Co-generation (combined heat and power) plants combine the generation of electricity and heat using solar power, fossil fuels, syngas, biomass, or biogas as a fuel source. These plants can achieve efficiencies as high as 80%, but many of these plants being built today only expect to achieve stated maximum 55% efficiency. Heated steam turns a turbine, and then excess heat is distributed for space heating in buildings, industrial processes or green house heating. Whole communities can benefit from heat distributed through a district heating scheme. Cogeneration (also combined heat and power or CHP) is the use of a power station to simultaneously generate both heat and electricity. ... Solar power describes a number of methods of harnessing energy from the light of the sun. ... Fossil fuels are hydrocarbon-containing natural resources such as coal, petroleum and natural gas. ... It has been suggested that Town gas be merged into this article or section. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Biogas, also called digester gas, typically refers to methane produced by the fermentation of organic matter including manure, wastewater sludge, municipal solid waste, or any other biodegradable feedstock, under anaerobic conditions. ... Cogeneration (also combined heat and power or CHP) is the use of a power station to simultaneously generate both heat and electricity. ...

The ability to achieve tri-generation using fossil fuels or solar energy to generate heat, electricity and evaporative cooling exists. These combined power plants have the best energy conversion ratio after hydroelectric plants. Small photovoltaic arrays, windmills and bicycles can rotate generators to generate mobile electricity. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbon-containing natural resources such as coal, petroleum and natural gas. ... Solar power describes a number of methods of harnessing energy from the light of the sun. ... A solar cell, a form of photovoltaic cell, is a device that uses the photoelectric effect to generate electricity from light, thus generating solar power (energy). ... Pitstone Windmill, believed to be the oldest windmill in the British Isles A windmill is an engine powered by the energy of wind. ... This mountain bicycle features oversized tires, a sturdy frame, front shock absorbers, and handlebars oriented perpendicular to the bikes axis Bicycle may also refer to Bicycle Playing Cards. ...

Ownership and reform of electricity generation market

Electricity reform around the world is de-coupling electricity generation from the regulated monopoly elements of transmission and electricity distribution; see electricity market. The generation and distribution of electricity is managed by either privately owned or state owned public utilities. In recent years some governments have started to privatise or corporatise these utilities as part of a move to introduce market forces to monopolies. The New Zealand Electricity Market is a typical example. In economics, a monopoly (from the Greek monos, one + polein, to sell) is defined as a persistent market situation where there is only one provider of a kind of product or service. ... Transmission lines in Lund, Sweden Electric power transmission is one process in the delivery of electricity to consumers. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Electricity markets have been and continue to be developed as a result of the deregulation of electricity utilities around the world. ... A public utility is a company that maintains the infrastructure for a public service. ... Privatization (sometimes privatisation, denationalization, or, especially in India, disinvestment) is the process of transferring property from public ownership to private ownership and/or transferring the management of a service or activity from the government to the private sector. ... Corporatization is a form of economic reform which takes services from the direct control of the government, and places them in the control of government-owned corporations. ... This article is about economic monopoly. ... Up to 1994, the New Zealand Electricity Market had a system of monopoly providers of generation, transmission, distribution and retailing. ...

See also

Categories: Electric power | Electrical engineering | Energy conversion | Power plants Lightning strikes during a night-time thunderstorm. ... // Energy development is the ongoing effort to provide abundant and accessible energy, through knowledge, skills and constructions. ... Renewable energy (sources) or RES capture their energy from existing flows of energy, from on-going natural processes, such as sunshine, wind, flowing water, biological processes, and geothermal heat flows. ... Oil power plant in Iraq A power station or power plant is a facility for the generation of electric power. ... A fossil fuel power plant is an energy conversion center that combusts fossil fuels to produce electricity, designed on a large scale for continuous operation. ... Active solar is a term which refers to the use of solar energy to actively convert the energy in sunlight into other forms. ... Bioalcohol is alcohol obtained from biological sources, not from petroleum. ... Biodiesel sample Biodiesel refers to diesel-equivalent biofuel usually made from vegetable oils or animal fats. ... Biofuel is any fuel that derives from biomass â€” recently living organisms or their metabolic byproducts, such as manure from cows. ... Biogas, also called digester gas, typically refers to methane produced by the fermentation of organic matter including manure, wastewater sludge, municipal solid waste, or any other biodegradable feedstock, under anaerobic conditions. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Deep lake water cooling uses cold water pumped from the bottom of a lake as a heat sink for climate control systems. ... Distributed generation is a new trend in electric power generation. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A fuel cell is an electrochemical device similar to a battery, but differing from the latter in that it is designed for continuous replenishment of the reactants consumed; i. ... The Sun is a natural fusion reactor. ... Thermally active area, New Zealand. ... Hydroelectric Reservoir Vianden, Luxembourg (tower) Hydroelectric Reservoir Vianden, Luxembourg Hydroelectricity is electricity obtained from hydropower. ... Liquid fuels are those combustible or energy-generating molecules which can be harnessed to create mechanical energy, which in turn usually produces kinetic energy, and which also must take the shape of their container. ... View of a land based OTEC facility at Keahole Pointe on the Kona coast of Hawaii. ... Passive solar is a broad category of techniques for regulating a buildings indoor air and domestic water temperatures, using climate, site features, architectural elements, and landscape materials. ... A solar cell is a semiconductor device that converts photons (light) into electricity. ... A solar chimney is an apparatus for harnessing solar energy by convection of heated air. ... An Energy tower is a new concept for producing electrical power for consumer consumption, the brainchild of Professor Dan Zaslavsky. ... Solar Panel (photovoltaic array) Solar panels are collections of solar cells used for capturing the energy in sunlight. ... Solar power describes a number of methods of harnessing energy from the light of the sun. ... The major applications of solar thermal energy at present are heating swimming pools, heating water for domestic use, and space heating of buildings. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Solar Tower Buronga. ... Tidal power is a means of electricity generation achieved by capturing the energy contained in moving water mass due to tides. ... A Trombe wall is a sun-facing wall built from material that can act as a thermal mass such as stone, concrete, adobe or water tanks combined with an air space, insulated glazing and vents to form a large solar thermal collector. ... Kaplan turbine and electrical generator cut-away view. ... Horizontal axis wind turbine, the Enercon model E-66 wind energy converter, in Germany. ... Assembly of an Enercon E-70 wind turbine Modern technology uses large amounts of electrical power. ... // Energy development is the ongoing effort to provide abundant and accessible energy, through knowledge, skills and constructions. ... // A hydrogen economy is a hypothetical future economy in which the primary form of stored energy for mobile applications and load balancing is hydrogen (H2). ... The Hubbert peak theory, also known as peak oil, is an influential theory concerning the long-term rate of conventional oil (and other fossil fuel) extraction and depletion. ... Renewable energy (sources) or RES capture their energy from existing flows of energy, from on-going natural processes, such as sunshine, wind, flowing water, biological processes, and geothermal heat flows. ... Hypermodernity is a type, mode, or stage of society that reflects a deepening or intensification of Modernity. ... When plotted on a logarithmic graph, 15 separate lists of paradigm shifts for key events in human history show an exponential trend. ... Ecosystem services are processes by which the natural environment produces resources useful to people. ... Kardashev scale projections ranging from 1900 to 2100. ... The ton of oil equivalent (TOE) is a unit for measuring energy. ... The UN Human Development Index (HDI) measures poverty, literacy, education, life expectancy, and other factors. ... In economics, value of Earth is the ultimate in ecosystem valuation, and important to value of life calculations. ... Intermediate technology is infrastructural capital that is at least an order of magnitude more expensive than that prevalent in a developing nation but also at least an order of magnitude less expensive than that prevalent in a developed nation offering aid. ... Infrastructural capital refers to any physical means of production or means of protection beyond that which can be gathered or found directly in nature, i. ... Ecoforestry is forestry that emphasizes holistic practices which strive to protect and restore ecosystems1 instead of traditional forestry that maximizes economic productivity. ... Ecological economics is a branch of economics that addresses the interdependence and co-evolution between human economies and natural ecosystems. ... Earth sheltering is the architectural practice of using earth for external thermal mass against building walls. ... Development economics is a branch of economics that deals with the study of (i) macro - the causes of long term economic growth, and (ii) micro - the incentive issues of individual households and firms, especially in developing countries. ... Environmental design refers to taking environmental concerns into consideration in the design process. ... Timber Exploitation of natural resources is an essential condition of the human existence. ... Green building is the practice of: increasing the efficiency with which buildings and their sites use and harvest energy, water, and materials, and reducing building impacts on human health and the environment, through better siting, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and removal â€” the complete building life cycle. ... Green Gross Domestic Product (Green GDP) is an index of economic growth with the environmental consequences of that growth factored in. ... Natural building involves a range of building systems and materials that place major emphasis on sustainability. ... Permaculture Mandala summarising the ethics and principles of permaculture design. ... Autonomy is the condition of something that does not depend on anything else. ... Straw-bale construction is a building method that uses straw bales as structural elements, insulation, or both. ... Sustainability is a systemic concept, relating to the continuity of economic, social, institutional and environmental aspects of human society. ... Sustainable agriculture integrates three main goals: environmental stewardship, farm profitability, and prosperous farming communities. ... Sustainable design is the art of designing physical objects to comply with the principles of economic, social, and ecological sustainability. ... Sustainable development is a process of developing (land, cities, business, communities, etc) that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs according to the Brundtland Report, a 1987 report from the United Nations. ... The earliest mention of the phrase sustainable industries appeared in 1990 in a story about a Japanese group reforesting a tropical forest to help create sustainable industries for the local populace. ... Sustainable living might best be defined as a lifestyle that could, hypothetically, be sustained unmodified for many generations without exhausting any natural resources. ... The Natural Step is a systematic definition of sustainability developed by Swedish scientist, Karl-Henrik RobÃ¨rt. ... Human development theory is an economic theory that merges older ideas from ecological economics, sustainable development, welfare economics, and feminist economics. ... Maldevelopment is the state of an organism or an organisation that did not develop in the normal way (used in medicine, e. ... The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, often shortened to Rio Declaration, was a short document produced at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), informally known as the Earth Summit. ... According to its web site, Rocky Mountain Institute is an entrepreneurial nonprofit organization that fosters the efficient and restorative use of natural, human and other capital to make the world more secure, just, prosperous, and life-sustaining. ... Sim Van der Ryn is acknowledged as a leader in sustainable architecture. ... Underdevelopment is the state of an organism or of an organisation (e. ... The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) is a coalition of 175 international companies united by a shared commitment to sustainable development via the three pillars of economic growth, ecological balance and social progress. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Earth Summit 2002. ... The precautionary principle, a phrase first used in English circa 1988, is the idea that if the consequences of an action are unknown, but are judged to have some potential for major or irreversible negative consequences, then it is better to avoid that action. ... Practical Action - the working name of Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG) – is a charity registered in the United Kingdom which works directly in four regions of the developing world – Latin America, East Africa, Southern Africa and South Asia, with particular concentration on Peru, Kenya, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and Nepal. ... Energy-efficient landscaping is a type of landscaping designed for the purpose of conserving energy. ... General Motors EV1 // An electric vehicle, or EV, is a vehicle propelled by electric motors. ... An approach to building design, construction and retrofiting that is notable for the very low use of energy for space heating of the buildings produced. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Hydrogen vehicle. ... Superinsulation is an approach to building design, construction and retrofitting. ... Voluntary simplicity (or simple living) is a lifestyle considered by its adherents to be a sustainable, ecologically sensitive alternative to the typical, western consumerist lifestyle. ... Ecovillages are intended to be socially, economically and ecologically sustainable intentional communities. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Similar or related terms: Near zero energy building, Zero energy house, Near zero energy house A zero energy building (ZEB) can be described as structure with a net energy consumption of zero over a typical year. ...

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