Humans have been using energy as a tool to foster life since the beginning. It is an essential part of what makes everyone thrive. Energy is not a new discovery, humans have been using it as an important resource for millennia, but our knowledge of energy has expanded a great deal in the last century alone. Currently, the world’s leading sources of energy are nuclear, fossil fuels, wind, hydropower, and solar. All of these have played a role in where our industries are today, and we need to continue to shape our energy sources strategically for our world tomorrow. But it isn’t so easy. Let’s dive into how energy gets to your home, and how clean energy can be fully implemented into our society. Currently, electricity is the most commonly used source of energy.

How does electricity work?

It is an effortless act to flip on a bathroom light switch in the morning to brush your teeth, but there are complex systems put in place for the light to function properly. Let’s start at the beginning of the system. Power plants are vital to every type of energy worldwide. There are a variety of types of power plants, depending on the type of energy that power plants run on.

Power plants producing electricity might sound like an extremely complex process, but it can be broken down into a few simple steps. Firstly, there is some sort of fuel that is burned, depending on the type of plant. When this is burned, it generates heat which then evaporates water into steam. This steam then spins a wheel which is used to generate electricity. Many types of fuel are used such as fossil fuels, the sun, wind, nuclear, and water, which all have their differences.

Humans have been consistently burning fossil fuels since the early 1800s. Fossil fuels are an umbrella term for different resources such as natural gas, oil, and coal. The headlines often cover fossil fuels the most, for they produce the most carbon emissions compared with other types of power plants. This is due to the materials that are used to power the plants. They burn coal, oil, or gas (heat source) which then powers an electrical generator (electricity). The highest source of America’s energy comes from fossil fuels, at 60%.

Solar power plants are a recent technological advancement in the energy industry. First implemented in the 1980s, they have successfully produced energy. These power plants have large collector fields which are panels that absorb the heat from the sun. Rather than using oil or gas to produce heat like fossil fuel plants do, they directly get their heat source from the sun. This heat is then concentrated in the plant, which is moved into a turbine that traps the heat into steam (thermal energy). In the turbine, this energy is turned into mechanical energy which can then be used for electricity. The energy from the turbine is transferred to a generator, which processes it into usable energy for consumers.

Wind power plants are a much older energy source than solar power plants. They have been used and developed since the 1880s. Their production has skyrocketed in recent years, becoming the third largest energy source in the United States at 10.2%. Wind power plants are quite a simplistic energy source. When the wind blows, the wind turbines move with it, turning a gearbox that produces energy. The gearbox then moves the energy into a generator which completes the process of turning energy from the wind into electricity that can then be sent through the grid and used.

Hydropower plants were introduced to the world in 1878, a groundbreaking invention. Hydropower is heavily dependent on rainfall as the hydropower dams are placed in a location with moving water. These plants rely on water, as opposed to a heat source like the other plants. Kinetic energy from a constant flow of water goes through pipes in the dam and these pipes turn blades into turbines. The spinning turbines then turn a generator which produces electricity. These plants are extremely efficient at producing electricity but are heavily dependent on outside variables.

Last but not least, we have nuclear power plants, which were first put into use in 1954. Nuclear energy is often associated with the horrific terrors of nuclear weapons, but these power plants are among some of the safest sources of renewable energy that are used. The process begins with the breaking of atoms. This can happen when neutrons are fired at atoms, splitting the atom into two separate forms. When this reaction occurs, it produces energy and heat which is trapped and turned into steam with water. This steam is then able to power turbines, which make electricity.

At this point in the process, all three sources of energy have been turned into electricity using different techniques that are ready to be distributed for use. For this to happen, a transformer is put in place. As much as this sounds like a super cool machine like in the movies, a transformer is a device that processes a current with the electromagnetic fields in the moving electricity to bump the voltage up. This makes the transport of electricity through high-voltage power lines much easier, and much more cost-effective.

There are over 500,000 miles of high-voltage power lines crossing all parts of the United States, but there are over 5,000,000 distribution lines which are the ones you would typically see in cities or neighborhoods. All of those lines create an immense scale of electrical information constantly being moved right above our heads. Depending on how close a power plant is, the electricity you consume will travel different lengths within high-voltage power lines. The limit for the distance that electricity will travel along high-voltage lines is roughly 300 miles as high voltage is much harder to maintain across long distances. Once the electricity gets close enough to its location, it will pass through another transformer that turns down the voltage before entering distribution lines closer to residential areas. These lines will then keep carrying the electricity until it reaches your house where it will move the voltage down for the last time. A service drop is the next step, where the electricity exits the lines and goes through a meter box. Lastly, from the meter box, the electricity moves through various wires connected to different parts of your house including outlets and light switches. Now there is a constant flow of energy to your house to supply all your needs.

Our world has immensely benefited from electricity. But the inequalities are very present. If you can read this article, that means that you are in the 92% of the world that has access to electricity, but that still leaves roughly 750 million people worldwide without access to electricity. It should be a fundamental human right to have access to energy, specifically electricity, as it has so many amazing benefits to everyday life. By educating yourself on all things energy, you are taking the first step to make an equal world for all.