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Methods of Electrical Generation
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Most of the electricity produced in the world today is produced by dirty, polluting coal-fired power plants, for the simple reason that this remains the cheapest way of producing electricity on a large scale. There are, however, other ways in which it can be produced:
Although it still produces the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide when it is burned, and is a dwindling resource, natural gas is by far the most environmentally friendly of all the fossil fuels used in power stations, and the fact that it produces no soot when burned means that the combustion products can be used to help turn the steam turbine, making it also by far the most efficient.
Although petroleum power stations do exist, they do not run on the type of fuel that you might put in your car. Instead, they use residual fuel oil, which is a cheap by-product of the crude oil refining process. Although this is cleaner than coal, petroleum fired power stations are still amongst the worst polluters.
Currently, the only large-scale alternative to fossil fuel fired power stations is nuclear energy, which works by splitting the atoms of a nuclear fuel such as uranium, releasing a massive amount of heat which is used to vaporise the water that drives the steam turbines. Although this process does not produce carbon dioxide, other than indirectly through the energy required to split the atoms in the first place, it does produce quite a significant volume of dangerous nuclear waste.
Hydro Power is one of the simplest, and cleanest forms of electricity production available, as it merely relies upon the flow of water in a fast flowing river or through an outlet in a dam to power the turbines. However, the amount of power that can be produced in this way is limited due to the fact that hydro plants need to be located very specifically.
One potentially massive source of heat is the hot rocks just below the surface of the earth. Although Geothermal power plants currently only exist in locations where these rocks are unusually near the surface, sending underground water shooting through the surface in the form of a hot spring, it is hoped that advances in drilling technology will eventually mean that these plants can be built anywhere in the world.
The energy radiated by the sun can be trapped and turned into electricity by devices known as solar panels, or photovoltaic cells. Solar power can also take the form of using concentrated heat energy from the sun to heat water for steam turbines, and this process is known as solar thermal electricity generation.
Another renewable option, in countries where there is no shortage of windy weather, is wind power, which uses windmills equipped with dynamos to turn the kinetic energy of the wind into electrical energy. However, these windmills have a habit of ruining a nice landscape, which is why so many proposed wind farms run into planning difficulties.
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