Electricity

URL: http://www3.iptv.org/exploremore/energy/uses/electricity.cfm

1007936

Electricity is very important to our lives. This reading, part of a series about the future of energy, introduces students to the need and uses for electricity. Students review sources of electricity generation and investigate the evaluation of energy production resources. Here students review information on the generation of electric power and the infrastructure needed to transmit and distribute electricity. Thought-provoking questions afford students chances to reflect on what they've read. Web links to two PBS NewsHour energy-related articles are provided, along with a link to information on the benefits of small-scale wind projects. Copyright 2005 Eisenhower National Clearinghouse

Summary

Subject keyword(s)	Chemistry, Earth and space science, Electricity, Energy, Fuels, Physical science, Physics
Grade level	Middle School, High School, Informal Education
Intended audience	Learner
Resource type	Audio/Visual, Instructional Material, Reference Material
Resource format	image, image/gif, image/jpeg, text, text/html
Rights	Copyright 2004, Iowa Public Television.

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Usage Data Summary of usage data Times favorited: 2 Embedded: 1 Use was recorded from the following sources: Instructional Architect Usage Data

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Title	Middle School Portal: Math and Science Pathways (MSP2)
Link	http://msteacher2.org/
Description	The Middle School Portal 2: Math and Science Pathways (MSP2) supports middle grades educators with high-quality, standards-based resources and promotes collaboration and knowledge-sharing among its users. Educators use MSP2 to increase content knowledge in science, mathematics, and appropriate pedagogy for youth ages 10 to 15. MSP2 employs social networking and digital tools to foster dynamic experiences that promote creation, modification, and sharing of resources, facilitate professional development, and support the integration of technology into practice. MSP2 is a project of the Ohio State University College of Education and Human Ecology, National Middle School Association, and Education Development Center, Inc., and is funded by the National Science Foundation. The partners integrate resources, tools, and services across projects, and support multiple methods of resource discovery to meet the needs of this audience.
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Content contained within the resource

 Electricity   Electricity    • Resources    • Generation    • Transmission &      Distribution    • Future    • Sources Heating/Cooling Transportation Manufacturing   Electricity is a broad term used to describe the behavior of electrons and protons. The flow of electrons creates the current we tap into to power everything from radios to refrigerators. Food, water and oxygen are essential to your survival. Is electricity? It’s a part of life most of us just take for granted. We flip a switch or push a button and there it is. So what would life be like without it? To understand just how important electricity is, explore more about the power supply chain and the different resources we rely on to fuel the chain. Resources Electricity is a very flexible form of energy because there are a lot of different resources that can be used to produce it. The different resources range from fossil fuels to nuclear power, from solar to wind to hydrogen and many others. The variety of resources all have benefits and limitations associated with their use. The trick is to balance the good with the bad in order to produce the energy we need. To assess an individual resource, ask yourself these questions: Is the resource abundant? Is there enough to last for a long time. Is the resource available? There may be a ton of the resource that exists but it’s too difficult to retrieve. Is the resource cost-effective? Some resources may be too expensive to retrieve, or too costly to turn into electricity. What are the environmental outcomes? What will using this resource do to the environment, are there emissions, will mining it ruin a region? Generation We rely on many different resources to produce electricity but one basic process is relied on to produce power. At the core of the process are generators. Generators are large magnets surrounded by coils of wire. When the magnet spins, a magnetic field passes along the wires, "pulling" electrons into a stream or current. That process of producing electrical current is repeated from hydroelectric plants, to wind farms, to coal burning plants. All the plants use the same basic process, but they use different energy resources to get the generator spinning – like coal, wind, or water. There are exceptions to generator-driven power production. Solar power relies on devices called photovoltaic cells to convert light directly into electricity. Fuel cells are relatively new devices that use hydrogen as a fuel to produce electricity. Infrastructure: Transmission & Distribution Once an electrical current is created, it has to get to the user. Electrical current is distributed to individual homes and big businesses the same way, over a transmission grid. The grid is a system of transmission wires, substations, and transformers that make electricity accessible and usable. Transmission wires carry high-voltage current over long-distances, from the plants where it’s produced, to the points where it’s used. Once the power reaches it’s destination it’s "stepped down" through substations and transformers to lower, useable levels. The power is then distributed over lower-voltage lines into homes and businesses. Future The current electrical distribution system relies heavily on the transmission grid. The problem is that the grid was not designed to carry the load it’s forced to carry. Increasing demand has outpaced updating the infrastructure, leaving a system vulnerable to outages and disruptions of service. In the future, the way electricity is distributed is very likely to change. Some industry experts predict a move toward "distributed generation." Instead of having large centralized power plants with large networks of transmission lines leading away from the generation source to the point of use, we could see smaller networks. These smaller networks would offer the ability to generate power to businesses and even homes. Fuel cells, for instance, could be placed in the basement just like a furnace to generate electricity. For many computer-related businesses, on-site and backup generation is essential, because any interruption in power costs them big bucks. In the future, we may see small power plants, called microgeneration power stations. These microgeneration power plants would be small enough to fit into a neighborhood. What do you think? What do you use every day that demands electricity? Does everyone have equal access to electricity? How does population growth around the world affect energy demand? Is increasing the supply of electricity the only way to meet demand? What are strategies to reduce demand? Sources The US Energy Information Administration http://www.eia.doe.gov/neic/a-z/electrica-z.htm Solarbuzz. Solar Energy Industry Statistics. "Solar Electricity Prices." (Online) http://www.solarbuzz.com/StatsMarketShare.htm   Explore More: Future of Energy Copyright 2004, Iowa Public Television The Explore More project is supported by funds from the Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust and the USDE Star Schools Program. Images for Explore More have been provided courtesy of the following: • Iowa Public Television • Missouri Division of Tourism • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) • US Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service(USDA ARS) • US Department of Energy(USDE) • US Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service(USDA NRCS) •   IPTV Market to Market Links Benefit found in small scale wind projects wind researchers have often called the upper Midwest the Saudi Arabia of wind power. If the wind potential for the entire region were completely utilized, it is estimated the energy produced would supply more power than the entire united states could use. PBS NewsHour Online Links They're going to build the power plant where? Nobody wants a power plant in their backyard.