Electric Power Goes From Grid To Home
From the discovery of static electricity in Ancient Greece by Thales of Miletus to the creation of the worlds first electrostatic generator by Otto von Guericke thousands of years later, many scientists are intrigued by power. Just how is static electricity, energy or electricity produced? Notable scientists like Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse and Ben Franklin learned a great deal about electricity during the 18th and 19th centuries. It was through their work as well as that of others that formed the modern idea of electricity. We use electricity in our homes and offices, but exactly how does the electricity get from the power plant to your home?
Electricity is delivered to homes through what is referred to as a grid. This is a network of transmission and distribution lines that are either above or below ground. When traveling along the grid, the lines hold a tremendous amount of high voltage. These lines carry the power from the plant to the substation to your home. In different parts of the world you may see the power lines on wooden poles, on metal towers and through transformers that can sometimes just look like a simple white box on a pole. The State Regulatory Commission is in charge of transmission costs to the customer. At your home you will have a meter where the kilowatts are measured and read to dictate what your consumption has been. This is the point of entry from the power lines into your home. A utility company, a power company, a municipality or maybe even a co-op distributes electricity. The original point that your electricity comes from can vary.
Many companies own and operate the power plants that are within their grid. Other power companies like Southern CalEdison produce some of their own electricity and buys additional power from surrounding states. Southern CalEdison purchases energy from the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in Arizona. The power that is produced at Northern Arizona?s Glen Canyon Dam produces hydroelectricity no only for Arizona, but for California, New Mexico and Nevada as well. It is normal for companies to sell, buy or trade electricity among each other. This is especially true during peak times and catastrophe such as a blackout. A Rolling Blackout can take place when an areas power usage outweighs the power that is being distributed. Sometime a mandatory blackout will be executed in order to prevent a grid from becoming overburdened.
To ensure reliable delivery organizations have been formed over the years. Some of these include Independent System Operators (ISOs) and Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs). The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission deemed these types of firms necessary for the preservation of the grid in the United States. This has been determined to be one of the best ways to keep a handle on the grid so that all consumers of power can have the electricity they need when they need it. It helps regulate the use of the power plants with its customers to assure proper delivery to your home.
There are many types of power plants that deliver electricity. Coal produces over 50% of the electricity in the U.S. followed by nuclear power at 20%, natural gas at 17%, hydroelectric 7%, and renewables at 3%. Each type of plant has its own group of advocates promoting their favorite materials for generation. Fossil Fuel plants operate with coal, natural gas and refined oil products. Each of these fuels are burned within the plant to facilitate the boilers and gears into producing electricity for the public. Nuclear energy will use radioactive material such as uranium or plutonium to heat the core of their generator which produces the electricity. Renewable energy is produce by use of power supplies that are virtually inexhaustible such as solar power, biomass, geothermal and wind power. There are more and more power plants worldwide trying to change over to this last option. The green energy (renewable) will outlast the fossil fuels by tens of thousands of years and there are many rebate programs available to the consumer when installing this type of power into your home for huge savings on your bills.
Climate and delivery system and costs will be the determining factors on the price to the consumer. The cost will also be determinate on what you are powering in your home. Air conditioning usually takes up 16% of your bill while the refrigerator is 14%, heating 9-10%, lighting 9% and appliances 3-5%.
The next time you travel down the road, check to see if you can visually follow with the electricity as it goes from power plant to transformer to towers to transformers and distribution lines from wooden poles to the meter in your home. Observe for yourself how electricity gets from the power plant to your home.
Tags: Education, electricity, energy, home, power