by Matt Davida
People tend to take it for granted that when they flip on the light switch, there will instantly be light. You depend on the garage door opener to provide access to your house when you push the button on the remote. Electricity powers your appliances and technology; it regulates the temperature inside your home and can charge electric vehicles. However, when a storm or blown transformer takes the electricity away, it’s a sharp reminder of just how much you rely on it. If the power is out for an extended period, all the ice cream in your freezer will melt, and refrigerated foods will spoil. When night falls, you have to light candles or sit in the dark, and when your devices need recharging, you’re out of luck until you have access to power again. The energy in your home travels a long way before reaching you. But where does it come from, and how does it get to its destination? Read on to explore how electricity travels from its source to your home.
Generation
In a typical power plant, fossil fuels, such as coal and natural gas, or renewable resources, such as wind, solar and geothermal, are used to convert water into steam. The pressure from the steam turns the blades of massive turbines that create the electricity. There are many other types of power generation as well, but steam-powered turbines generate more than half the electricity produced in the US every year. Once generated, the electricity travels to sub-stations where it gets distributed to local utility lines and finally to your home.
Transmission
When it leaves the power plant, the current passes through electric transformers that substantially increase its voltage. The increase is necessary to minimize power loss as the electricity makes its journey across more than 200,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines to one of 70,000 US substations for distribution. This system of power lines, transformers and substations, referred to as the “power grid,” manages the constant flow of electrical power from producers to consumers.
Distribution
When the electricity reaches one of the many substations, it passes through a step-down transformer that reduces the voltage before it travels to local distribution lines. In some areas, the power flows through a pad-mounted transformer that serves a group of adjacent houses. You may recognize these big, green metal boxes installed in some backyards or near the street within a neighborhood. These smaller transformers also regulate the voltage. However small, they can still be extremely dangerous, so if one of these is in your yard, be very cautious about digging in its vicinity. Always contact your utility company first, and they will come out and mark the lines, so you’ll know where it’s safe to dig. By the time the electricity enters your home, the current has been reduced to 220 volts alternating current (AC) or 110 volts direct current (DC), making it safe for your house’s electrical system.
Delivery
When the electricity connects to your house, it first passes through a meter that measures your usage and will determine the size of your power bill. From the meter, it travels through the breaker box to the wires behind the walls of the house. These wires connect to the electrical outlets, light switches and other fixtures that require power.
Electricity is one of those things that you don’t think much about until it isn’t available anymore. Then you think about it a great deal unless you own a backup generator. Energy generation begins with fossil fuels such as natural gas and coal, or renewable energy sources like wind and solar. These energy sources fuel the turbines that generate electricity. From the power plant, through transformers, across miles of high-voltage wires, to utility substations, and finally to your home, electricity has a very long journey to reach the end-user. The birth of electric power changed the way people do nearly everything, and now it is difficult to imagine a world without it.
Generation
In a typical power plant, fossil fuels, such as coal and natural gas, or renewable resources, such as wind, solar and geothermal, are used to convert water into steam. The pressure from the steam turns the blades of massive turbines that create the electricity. There are many other types of power generation as well, but steam-powered turbines generate more than half the electricity produced in the US every year. Once generated, the electricity travels to sub-stations where it gets distributed to local utility lines and finally to your home.
Transmission
When it leaves the power plant, the current passes through electric transformers that substantially increase its voltage. The increase is necessary to minimize power loss as the electricity makes its journey across more than 200,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines to one of 70,000 US substations for distribution. This system of power lines, transformers and substations, referred to as the “power grid,” manages the constant flow of electrical power from producers to consumers.
Distribution
When the electricity reaches one of the many substations, it passes through a step-down transformer that reduces the voltage before it travels to local distribution lines. In some areas, the power flows through a pad-mounted transformer that serves a group of adjacent houses. You may recognize these big, green metal boxes installed in some backyards or near the street within a neighborhood. These smaller transformers also regulate the voltage. However small, they can still be extremely dangerous, so if one of these is in your yard, be very cautious about digging in its vicinity. Always contact your utility company first, and they will come out and mark the lines, so you’ll know where it’s safe to dig. By the time the electricity enters your home, the current has been reduced to 220 volts alternating current (AC) or 110 volts direct current (DC), making it safe for your house’s electrical system.
Delivery
When the electricity connects to your house, it first passes through a meter that measures your usage and will determine the size of your power bill. From the meter, it travels through the breaker box to the wires behind the walls of the house. These wires connect to the electrical outlets, light switches and other fixtures that require power.
Electricity is one of those things that you don’t think much about until it isn’t available anymore. Then you think about it a great deal unless you own a backup generator. Energy generation begins with fossil fuels such as natural gas and coal, or renewable energy sources like wind and solar. These energy sources fuel the turbines that generate electricity. From the power plant, through transformers, across miles of high-voltage wires, to utility substations, and finally to your home, electricity has a very long journey to reach the end-user. The birth of electric power changed the way people do nearly everything, and now it is difficult to imagine a world without it.
Topics:
electricity
