Where is electricity from

In the cases of wind power and hydropower, turbine blades are moved directly by flowing wind and water, respectively. Solar photovoltaic panels convert sunlight directly to electricity using semiconductors.

The amount of energy produced by each source depends on the mix of fuels and energy sources used in your area. To learn more, see the emissions section. Learn more about electricity production from the U. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration. Electricity in the United States often travels long distances from generating facilities to local distribution substations through a transmission grid of nearly , miles of high-voltage transmission lines.

Generating facilities provide power to the grid at low voltage, from volts V in small generating facilities to 22 kilovolts kV in larger power plants. Once electricity leaves a generating facility, the voltage is increased, or "stepped up," by a transformer typical ranges of kV to kV to minimize the power losses over long distances.

As electricity is transmitted through the grid and arrives in the load areas, the voltage is stepped down by substation transformers ranges of 69 kV to 4. All-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles represent a new demand for electricity, but they are not likely to strain much of our existing generation resources in the near term.

Large increases in the number of these vehicles in the United States will not necessarily require the addition of new electricity-generation capacity depending on when, where, and at what power level the vehicles are charged.

All the poles and wires you see along the highway and in front of your house are called the electrical transmission and distribution system. Today, generating stations all across the country are connected to each other through the electrical system sometimes called the "power grid". If one generating station can't produce enough electricity to run all the air conditioners when it's hot, another generating station can send some where it's needed.

Skip to content Energy Glossary. Here's how electricity gets to your house: Electricity is made at a generating station by huge generators. Generating stations can use wind, coal, natural gas, or water.

There are several management strategies available for the used fuel, such as direct disposal or recycling in reactors to generate more low-carbon electricity. Renewables, such as wind, solar and small-scale hydro, produce electricity with low amounts of greenhouse gas emissions across their entire life-cycle. In , wind and solar generated 4. They do not produce electricity predictably or consistently due to their inherent reliance on the weather.

Electricity generation from wind turbines varies with the wind speed, and if the wind is too weak or too strong no electricity is produced at all.

The output of solar panels is reliant on the strength of the sunshine, which depends on a number of different factors, such as the time of day and the amount of cloud cover as well as the amount of dust on the panels. Another problem is that there might not be enough space or public willingness to accommodate the vast number of turbines or panels required to produce enough electricity. This is due to the fact that energy from the wind or the sun is diffuse, meaning that very significant amounts of land are required in order to generate a significant quantity of electricity.

Because electricity cannot be easily stored, renewables have to be backed up by other forms of electricity generation. The largest batteries cannot operate for days, let alone the weeks that would be required to back up renewables in order to ensure the supply of round-the-clock electricity.

In order to ensure a steady supply of electricity, gas plants are increasingly providing backup services to renewables electricity. Natural gas plants emit large amounts of carbon dioxide during operation, and significant amounts of methane are often released during the extraction and transport of gas, both of which contribute to climate change.

A biomass plant operates in a very similar way to gas- and coal-fired power plants. In , biomass generated 2. Biomass production can require a lot of energy, both in terms of production of biomass itself and in terms of transport. Due to this, the energy required can be greater than the energy value in the final fuel, and the greenhouse gas emissions can be as high, or even greater, than those from equivalent fossil fuels.

Additionally, it can take more than years for the emitted carbon dioxide to be absorbed, which leads to a short-term emissions increase. Other environmental impacts related to land use and ecological sustainability can be considerable. Additionally, as with coal, the use of biomass can contribute to air pollution, and thus has negative health impacts for populations local to biomass plants.

Electricity is growing in importance. If we are to address climate change and reduce air pollution, we will need to increase the use of all low-carbon energy sources, of which nuclear is an important part. This would mean that nuclear generation would have to triple globally by then.

In order to drastically reduce the levels of fossil fuels, nuclear and renewables need to work together to secure a reliable, affordable and clean future energy supply. Where does our electricity come from?