ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION

RYAN AND CHETTA (CJ)

WHAT PRODUCES OUR ELECTRICITY?

COAL PLANTS

Coal Plants produce 44% of our electricity. A typical (500 megawatt) coal plant burns 1.4 million tons of coal each year. As of 2012, there are 572 operational coal plants in the U.S. with an average capacity of 547 megawatts.

HYDRO PLANTS (NIAGARA FALLS) Hydroelectricity is

the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy, accounting for 16 percent of global electricity generation – 3,427 terawatt-hours of electricity production in 2010, and is expected to increase about 3.1% each year for the next 25 years.

WIND TURBINESA wind turbine is a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into electrical power. A wind turbine used for charging batteries may be referred to as a wind charger.The result of over a millennium of windmill development and modern engineering, today's wind turbines are manufactured in a wide range of vertical and horizontal axis types. The smallest turbines are used for applications such as battery charging for auxiliary power for boats or caravans or to power traffic warning signs. Slightly larger turbines can be used for making small contributions to a domestic power supply while selling unused power back to the utility supplier via the electrical grid. Arrays of large turbines, known as wind farms, are becoming an increasingly important source of renewable energy and are used by many countries as part of a strategy to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels.

SOLAR POWERSolar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV), or indirectly using concentrated solar power (CSP). Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. Photovoltaics convert light into electric current using the photovoltaic effect. The PV industry is beginning to adopt levelized cost of energy (LCOE) as the unit of cost. For a 10 MW plant in Phoenix, AZ, the LCOE is estimated at $0.15 to 0.22/kWh in 2005.[

HOW DOES IT GET TO OUR HOMES?

• ELECTRICITY IS TRANSPORTED TO A DISTRIBUTION CENTER

THEN THE ELECTRICITY TRAVELS TO OUR HOMES

VOLTAGES

• HERE WE USE 120 –240 VOLTS TO POWER OUR HOUSES

• BUSINESS BUILDINGS ARE MUCH LARGER THEY USE 120 OR 208 VOLTS

RECEPTACLES (PLUGS)

• OUR RECEPTACLES ARE DIFFERENT FROM YOURS

• IF WE WERE TO COME THERE WE WOULD USE AN ADAPTER

THE END

• HTTP://WWW.CONSTRUCTIONLAWSIGNAL.COM/BY-STATE/NEW-JERSEY-1/HEATED-DEBATE-OVER-NJ-POWER-PLANT-BILL/

• HTTP://DARKCLOUD.WIKIA.COM/WIKI/FILE:QUESTION_MARK.JPG • HTTP://WWW.SOLAR-POWER-MADE-AFFORDABLE.COM/HYDROELECTRIC-ENERGY.HTML • HTTP://VOICES.YAHOO.COM/A-GOOD-WIND-BLOWS-THROUGH-WORCESTER-2180358.HT

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• HTTP://SHREWSBURY.NET/?P=15903 • HTTP://GREENJERSEY.ORG/2008/12/17/PSEG-TO-PRESENT-ON-POWER-LINES-TOMORRO

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• HTTP://WWW.CITY-DATA.COM/FORUM/RALEIGH-DURHAM-CHAPEL-HILL-CARY/1294622-FON-WIDENING-BUT-WHATS-POWER-LINES-3.HTML

• HTTP://HYPERPHYSICS.PHY-ASTR.GSU.EDU/HBASE/ELECTRIC/HSEHLD.HTML • HTTP://WWW.110220VOLTS.COM/EUROPEANSHUCKO.HTML • HTTP://THEEVERGROWINGVAUGHANFAMILY.BLOGSPOT.COM/2012/05/LIT-UP.HTML

HTTPS://WWW.WIKIPEDIA.ORG/