Authored by Sanketa Nayak in Energy
Published on 12-24-2008

In our world today, electricity is one of the most important aspects in our lives. We can’t live without it. We rely on it to do our day to day tasks. We use this to run various machines that would make our life easier. Electricity is considered as a form of energy in which there is a flow of electrons. There are many sources of energy and even ways of generating it. We are currently facing power crisis and soon we might run out of electricity. Scientist are frantically looking for ways to produce electricity and moving beyond traditional ones. Traditionally, electricity is produced by turbines that are run by water but there are other ways to produce electricity.

• One of the most common ways of producing electricity is using fuels and water. Water could be heated on large furnaces then the vapor is the one helping move the turbines. Petroleum, oil and other natural gas can also be use to heat water.
• Nuclear fission is another way to produce electricity but it is the most controversial one. It doesn’t follow the law of conservation theory. There are also several risks about nuclear fission like nuclear melt down that is dangerous for the health and also the possibility of nuclear power waste. It is produced through nuclear reactions that would make heat generated chain reaction. The heat will then boil the water then the vapor will turn the turbine blades.
• Burning bio fuels is a new way to produce electricity. These bio fuels could be taken from bio waste coming from plants. This is safer than fossil fuels.
• Fossil fuel can also help in electricity generation. The fuel is burned to make it into chemical energy. The water will be converted into a stream that got a high temperature and pressure. That will make the turbine move producing mechanical energy, which is turned to electricity.
• Water is known to be a popular way to produce energy. River, lake and other body of waters can help to move turbines.
• Electricity can also be produced using the wind. Windmills have been around throughout our history. It got energy from the wind that can help in rotating fan blades of the windmill. Windmills or wind generator convert wind energy into mechanical energy that could then convert into electric energy.
• Due to the depleting resources, the sun power solution can help us in generating electricity. It is not that easy to convert sunshine power to mechanical energy. Mostly it will just be used for smaller scale basics. Solar panels can’t actually move so electricity is produced via direct current. It is like getting electricity from battery.
• Bio gas can also help in production of electricity but in small scale.
• Tidal power and wave power are the new technologies that can extract energy from movement of water. Basically the principle is the same. It harnesses free natural energy that drives the mechanical turbine to move.