The discovery of electrical energy belongs to the greatest discoveries in the history of man. It made the rise of new technologically advanced civilizations possible. Electricity is produced from different sources like fossil fuels, water, wind, the sun or nuclear fission.

Fossil fuels

Most electricity is made with some form of turbines. These turbines need an external source to get moving. In most current power plants turbines are driven by burning fossil fuels. With the burning of these fossil fuels water is heated which produces a lot of steam that makes the turbines move. This method is quite polluting because by burning the fossil fuels huge amounts of carbon dioxide are released into the air.
The urge to switch from energy produced by this method to energy produced in more environmentally friendly ways is something more and more people are being aware of.

Water energy

The most common way to produce energy from water is the use of dams. Dams, so to say, filter out the energy from the streaming water. The force of the streaming water moves the turbines which in turn produce electrical energy. Although this method of producing energy is clean in the sense that it does not pollute the air or leaves a pile of garbage, it has impact on the ecosystem of the water body it is placed in.
Nowadays, water accounts for the majority of the world’s electricity produced through renewable resources.

Wind energy

In the past wind mills were used for grain milling or draining moist land. Today wind turbines are also used to generate electricity. Their source is clean and inexhaustible: the wind. More and more wind mills are placed in areas with a steady supply of wind, like in and near sea.

Nuclear fission

Nuclear fission releases enormous amounts of energy as you can see if you look at footage from detonating atomic bombs. By nuclear fission Uranium atoms are bombarded with neutrons, causing the atoms to split. This causes a chain reaction. Every time an atom is split, more neutrons are released. This causes even more splits in the already split Uranium nuclei. This process generates a lot of heat, which is used to heat water, just like in a fossil fuel power plant. The water vapours, causing the turbines to move and generate electricity. Although nuclear energy does not pollute the air, it is not a clean energy source. The process of nuclear fission leaves us with a great amount of radioactive waste for which we do not have a solution yet, other that to store it in remote locations. It stays dangerous for many generations. What the results are from an severe accident at a nuclear power plant we all know since the Chernobyl disaster.

Solar energy

The sun is the biggest power plant of our solar system. Without the sun no life could exist on earth. The sun generously gives it’s power to the earth in the form of warmth and light. For life warmth and light is enough, but for our technical devices we need electrical power. The most widespread way to collect electricity from the sun is by using solar cells. The main advantages from solar cells are that they are relatively small and can be used almost everywhere. A lesser know way to harvest power from the sun is a technology that consumes a little more space but is very effective. In places with abundant sunlight like desserts, water is heated by setting up a series of mirrors pointing to a huge cauldron containing water. Then again the so produced steam moves a turbine, and we have our electricity.

Make your own power plant at home

Today the technology behind solar cells and wind turbines has become so refined that it is now possible for everybody to easily create solar cells or wind turbines at home. By doing this you can greatly reduce your monthly power bill or even sell electricity back to the power grid and help reducing pollution at the same time. Thanks to the Internet, step-by-step guides are available to the public, like the very detailed one from Earth4Energy. Hopefully, the availability of these technologies brings a society that runs on clean energy a step closer.