Conventional Ways

The conventional way of generating electricity is burning fossil fuels to create heat which gives steam to turn a turbine which powers a generator thus creating electricity.

The advantages of this are that is it quite simple to do if a good source of fossil fuels is available, but as the supply of fossil fuels is slowly depleting new ways of creating electricity must be put into practice. The also ever famous disadvantage of burning fossil fuels is that it gives off high amounts of carbon dioxide that affect the atmosphere.

Its impact on the environment is that the carbon dioxide given off during the burning process causes the ozone to stop the sunlight leaving the earths atmosphere making it heat up the earth, it is melting the polar ice caps which cause the sea levels to rise resulting in major floods in some parts of the world. This is known as global warming

The start up time of this way of generating electricity is very efficient while fossil fuels last. it uses fast burning materials like coal, oil and gas which burn at a high temperature to start up the generator faster to react to demand.

Alternate methods

Some alternate methods of generating electricity are:

• Wind (windmills)
• Wave or tide (oscillating water columns)
• Hydroelectric (dams)
• Geothermal
• Biomass (burning bio)
• Solar (panels)

However there are some draw backs to these methods, although they have little effect on the environment they can be very expensive to make and there may be local resistance to build such things. For example with windmills although they can produce enough energy in large groups many people thing they are ugly and ruin the country, to stop this they could be designed to blend in with their surroundings. Also if there is no wind it can take a while for them to start up.

Wave energy occurs due to movements of water near the surface of the sea. Waves are formed by winds blowing over the water surface, which make the water particles adopt circular motions. This motion carries kinetic energy, the amount of which is determined by the speed and duration of the wind, the length of sea it blows over, the water depth, sea bed conditions and also interactions with the tides

Tidal energy occurs due to large movements of water in the sea. As tides come in and out water near the coast is raised and lowered and the potential energy of this tidal range can be exploited. It is also possible to harness the kinetic energy of the moving water in the tidal stream itself.

Electricity can be made by waves through oscillating water columns. This comprises a partly submerged structure (‘collector’), which is open to the sea below the water surface so that it contains a column of water. Air is trapped above the surface of the water column. As waves enter and exit the collector, the water column moves up and down and acts like a piston on the air, pushing it back and forth. The air is channelled towards a turbine and forces it to turn. The turbine is coupled to a generator to produce electricity.

The disadvantage of wave of tidal methods is that the power of the sea is under-estimated. Its shear force and unpredictability can destroy the columns or other apparatus used to take the force of the sea and turn it into electricity. It will only be fast at starting up to the people living near the coast.

Hydroelectricity is electricity obtained from hydropower. Most hydroelectric power comes from the potential energy of dammed water driving a water turbine and generator

The disadvantage of hydroelectricity is that it can only power settlements close to a good water source and therefore landlocked or river-less countries would suffer. It will be fast at starting up to those who live nearby.

Geothermal energy works when Hot rocks underground heat water to produce steam. Holes are drilled down to the hot region; steam comes up, is purified and used to drive turbines, which drive electric generators.

The disadvantages of this are that there are not many places that a geothermal power station can be built and the type of rock maybe to hard to drill through also it is possible for a power station to run out of steam perhaps for decades. It may take a long time to start up if the electricity had to travel a long way.

Biomass is thought of as just waste, it can be dead leaves, trees; left over crops, grass cuttings etc. It can be collected up and burned. The steam created from this is used to turn turbines powering generators. The good thing it is just all waste that nobody needs. The disadvantages are that it can take time to collect the waste in large quantities and when it is burned it still makes greenhouse gases. It shouldn’t take that long to start up if it is done the same way as fossil fuels.

Solar energy is when sunlight is used to make electricity, maybe collected by cells to power generators, the heat can be used to heat up water and solar furnaces that used mirrors to concentrate the suns rays to create extremely high temperatures. One in France can reach up to 33,000 degrees Celsius.

The advantages are that it is free and requires no fuel and creates no pollution and it can make electricity in hot, remote places in the world where it is hard to provide electricity. The disadvantages are that it is useless after dark and solar panels are extremely expensive to make and it takes a lot of them to get a decent amount of electricity. However it is easy to get started up if it is sunny.

There are many ways that electricity can be made but without exception so far every one of these has drawbacks and disadvantages and there will always be somebody to argue against a new method so change seems improbable until fossil fuels run out but slowly new methods are being introduced and used privately making the public see the advantages and more people are joining the argument against global warming and the burning of fossil fuels.