producing electricity essays

producing electricity essays There are many ways to produce electricity but unfortunately not all of them are clean and safe. Luckily here in Canada we have clean and safe alternatives to things like the burning of fossil fuels. We are the largest producer of hydropower in the world. Hydro energy is electricity made using water. How it works is, water flowing down a river or falling from a waterfall is used to spin turbines inside a generator. Large rivers with fast flowing water and giant waterfalls work the best. Hydropower is clean. It doesn't produce any greenhouse gases or other air pollutants. It also doesn't generate any waste products that might need special disposal. Unlike fossil fuels it's carbon-free energy, hydropower doesn't burn fossil fuels. Another good thing about hydropower is it's flexible and reliable. Hydropower can be turned on almost immediately to meet the fast growing electricity demands. Facilities can easily respond to emergency power situations and provide constant energy with water. Coal, Oil and Gas are called "fossil fuels" because they have been formed from the fossilised remains of prehistoric plants and animals. It works by the coal being crushed to a fine dust and burnt. (Oil and gas can be burnt as is.) When the fuel is burnt it heats up water to make steam then the steam turns the turbines, the turbines turns the generator, then the generator produces electricity that is sent all over the country. There are many disadvantages with the burning of fossil fuels. The main disadvantage of fossil fuels is pollution. Burning any fossil fuel produces carbon dioxide, which contributes to the "greenhouse effect", (warming the Earth). Burning coal produces more carbon dioxide than burning oil or gas. It also produces a gas that creates acid rain. But with the bad comes the good. Along with disadvantages there are also advantages. Very large amounts of electricity can be generated in one place using coal and Transporting oil and gas to ...