NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Electric power production

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: Itaipú; pronounced ) is a dam that includes the largest hydroelectric power plant in the world. ... Hydroelectricity is electricity obtained from hydropower. ... This is a hub page for electricity. ... Transmission lines in Lund, Sweden Electric power transmission is one process in the delivery of electricity to consumers. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards and appeal to a wider international audience, this article may require cleanup. ... 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. Decentralised 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 â€“ 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. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards and appeal to a wider international audience, this article may require cleanup. ... This is a hub page for electricity. ... city lights viewed in a motion blurred exposure. ... This is a hub page for electricity. ... This article may be too technical for most readers to understand. ... Three-phase pole-mounted step-down transformer A transformer is an electrical device that transfers energy from one circuit to another purely by magnetic coupling. ...

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. ... Pumpjack pumping an oil well near Sarnia, Ontario Petroleum (from Greek petra â€“ rock and elaion â€“ oil or Latin oleum â€“ oil ), crude oil, sometimes colloquially called black gold or Texas Tea, is a thick, dark brown or greenish liquid. ... 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 (strip mining). ... Hydroelectricity is electricity obtained from hydropower. ... Core of a nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device in which nuclear chain reactions are initiated, controlled, and sustained at a steady rate (as opposed to a nuclear explosion, where the chain reaction occurs in a split second). ... General Name, Symbol, Number hydrogen, H, 1 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 1, 1, s Appearance colorless Atomic mass 1. ... Solar power describes a number of methods of harnessing energy from the light of the sun. ... Tidal power is a means of nuclear fission 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. Co-generation gas turbines (COGT) offer efficiencies of up to 60%, as they generate power both directly by combustion of natural gas and also use residual heat to generate electricity from steam. Small mobile electricity generators are often powered by diesel engines, especially on ships, remote building sites or for emergency standby. 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 (also known as thermal power plant in Asia, or power station in the UK) is an energy conversion center designed on a large scale for continuous operation. ... A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is one or more nuclear reactors generating nuclear power. ... 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. ... The diesel engine is a type of internal combustion engine; more specifically, it is a compression ignition engine, in which the fuel is ignited by being suddenly exposed to the high temperature and pressure of a compressed gas, rather than by a separate source of ignition, such as a spark...

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. ... General Name, Symbol, Number hydrogen, H, 1 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 1, 1, s Appearance colorless Atomic mass 1. ... An energy carrier is simply any system or substance used to transfer energy from somewhere to somewhere else. ...

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 (strip mining). ... Natural gas, commonly referred to as gas, is a gaseous fossil fuel consisting primarily of methane. ... Core of a nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device in which nuclear chain reactions are initiated, controlled, and sustained at a steady rate (as opposed to a nuclear explosion, where the chain reaction occurs in a split second). ... 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 nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device in which nuclear chain reactions are initiated, controlled, and sustained at a steady rate (as opposed to a nuclear explosion, where the chain reaction occurs in a split second). ...

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. ... Wind turbines A wind turbine is a machine for converting the mechanical energy in wind into electrical energy. ... 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 Gasified_coal be merged into this article or section. ... Biomass is organic non-fossil material, collectively. ... Biogas typically refers to methane produced by the fermentation of organic matter including manure, wastewater sludge, or municipal solid waste, 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 hooked up to a turbine can all be used 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. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards and appeal to a wider international audience, this article may require cleanup. ... 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 This is a hub page for electricity. ... // 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. ... Assembly of an Enercon E-70 wind turbine Modern technology uses large amounts of electrical power. ... 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 any diesel-equivalent biofuel usually made vegetable oils or animal fats. ... This article is about the general topic of biofuel. ... Biogas typically refers to methane produced by the fermentation of organic matter including manure, wastewater sludge, or municipal solid waste, under anaerobic conditions. ... Biomass is organic non-fossil material, collectively. ... 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. ... The use of ethanol as a fuel for internal combustion engines, either alone or in combination with other fuels, has been given much attention mostly because of its possible environmental and long-term economical advantages over fossil fuel. ... 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. ... 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, or photovoltaic cell, is a semiconductor device consisting of a large-area p-n junction diode, which in the presence of sunlight is capable of generating usable electrical energy. ... A solar chimney is an apparatus for harnessing solar energy by convection of heated air. ... Solar Panel (photovoltaic array) US annual average solar energy received by a latitude tilt photovoltaic cell A laundromat in California with solar hot water panels on the roof. ... 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 nuclear fission 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. ... Wind turbines A wind turbine is a machine for converting the mechanical energy in wind into electrical energy. ... 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 illustration by Graham Burnett, 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 is a vehicle whose motion is provided by electric motors. ... A passive house is a building that uses no designated energy for heating. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Hydrogen vehicle. ... Superinsulation is an alternative to Passive solar (although many building designs include some features of both). ... 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 socially, economically and ecologically sustainable villages of 50 to 150 people. ... WASTE is a peer-to-peer and friend-to-friend protocol and piece of software developed by Justin Frankel at Nullsoft in 2003. ... 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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