Well, It all started back in the 1830's by a British physicist and chemist by the name of Michael Faraday. Inventor, Faraday was best known for his discoveries of electromagnetic induction and of the laws of electrolysis. Little did he know that one day the world's reliance would be such that it is. I'm sure, that he also didn't realize that the world's resources would be rapidly depleted to make it either!
In the simplest of terms, electricity is made with a magnet, a wire, and motion! When a magnet rotates around a conductor (wire) - electric energy is produced. When we combine a magnet, a wire and rotation, a electrical generator.
Turbine Core
How electricity is made has evolved over the years, man has come up with many different ways to drive or create the motion needed to turn the generators that produce electricity. Most of which have relied on using our natural resources to drive the turbines connected to the generators. For instance, coal and natural gas are used to heat water, which in turn creates steam, to drive the turbines, which drive the generators.
We have also utilized natural flowing water, created dams to regulate and redirect the flow through turbines that drive the generators. Once constructed, this process is very cost and environmentally effective, because there is no coal or natural gas depleted for this process. One problem though.... There's only so many rivers!
Then one day we figured out ... Gee, the wind blows all the time in Kansas ToTo.. Why don't we put a propeller on a generator? Wah-Lah.. The Wind-Generator was born, which is a never ending, source of energy, or 'Renewable Energy'!
Then we discovered 'Nuclear Power' In a nuclear power plant, a reactor contains a core of enriched uranium. When atoms of the uranium fuel are bombarded by neutrons they fission or split, releasing heat and more neutrons. The heat that is created is used to turn water into steam that drives a turbine that generates electricity.
Then there's 'Geothermal Power' another renewable source of energy. This is utilized when the heat energy buried beneath the surface of the earth, is used to heat underground water into steam, which is harnessed to drive a generator's turbines, to generate electricity.
Solar power uses the energy of the sun. However, the sun's energy is not available all of the time, in all parts of the world. Solar power has also, historically been more expensive than using conventional fossil fuels. The photovoltaic conversion generates electric power directly from the light of the sun in a photovoltaic (solar) cell. Solar-thermal electric generators use the radiant energy from the sun to produce steam to drive turbines.
Biomass, substitutes conventional fossil fuels with wood, garbage, and agricultural waste, such as corn cobs and straw. Biomass replaces fossil fuels in a boiler. When burned, it creates steam that is used in conventional steam-electric power generation.
The problem of how to make electricity isn't one of knowledge, it's one of implementation. We have many viable solutions to eliminate the depletion of fossil fuels... We simply aren't acting on them. The current 'Renewable Energy' produced represents just a small percentage of our requirements. We need to eliminate the use of fossil fuel to generate our electricity. We need to convert to renewable energy.
I for one am not waiting for someone to make the decision for me. I don't live in an area where the wind could sustain the operation of a wind generator, but I do live in an area where the sun shines! Solar energy is my choice, and when the sun isn't shining, I can rely on the solar energy stored in my battery backup.
One day, when your children ask 'How is Electricity Made'? What will your answer be?
Have You Ever Wondered How is Electricity Made, and is There an End to It?
