Electricity is generated in many different ways, many preferred for the cost in which power stations are made, others the availability of the fuels, and some for the ease in how it is developed.
Non-Renewable fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas have served the generation of electricity well. However, due to their short expiration date they have become expensive, and are wasted by burning them where they could be used for other things; for example - oil can be used to make plastics. Furthermore, when fossil fuels are burnt, particularly oil and coal, they release harmful gases into the atmosphere (the greenhouse effect) and cause pollution that can lead to flooding, health problems and damage to our environment.
In the future, when these fuels vital to our current generating progress run out, we will be left with little or no sources of generating power, not a pretty concept. The answer is to cut back on using the amount of fossil fuels we do, and introduce more renewable and efficient methods of progress.
Wind, wave, solar, hydroelectric and tidal are some of the main renewable energy resources. These methods have been practiced in relatively small doses but still supply England with 2% of its energy.
Solar cells are expensive and even though the produced energy is very dilute, it can be the best solution to provide energy. Unfortunately, there are few areas suitable for this method and in England the sun doesn’t always shine.
Wind is a good, almost-free resource – for a farm that wants to pump water occasionally. However, the electricity can’t be stored, and you can’t command the wind to blow when you want it to. Those are critical factors for generating electricity.
Even though they are only two examples of the type of resources that could one day power the world, it seems that there are complications involved.
Therefore, alternatives may be required.
Nuclear power is a popular type of generating energy already, which will most probably come into more common use in the future. One tonne of the nuclear fuel, Uranium, can produce the same amount of electricity as 150,000 tonnes of coal. Although it seems an effective method, many people are opposed to it and it’s effects on the environment. People are particularly worried about the safety of the techniques and the disposal of nuclear waste, or ‘High Level Waste’, which takes 50 years for the radioactivity to die away.
Another possibility for generating electricity for the future is the ‘fuel cell’.
This method of obtaining a direct current works on the following principal:
A fuel cell consists of two electrodes (anode and cathode) and an electrolyte. The electrolyte functions as a partition between oxygen and hydrogen, preventing the two from direct contact. Instead, a controlled electrochemical reaction takes place and results in electric potential between the two electrodes just like that produced between the poles of a battery – and in just the same way as a battery, this can be converted directly to electrical energy. The only by-products of this are water and heat.
This idea could well be the way forward in generating electricity for the future.
Electricity is essential and important to each and every one of us. Nevertheless, The rate in which we are depleting fossil fuels is both unnecessary and foolish in respect of our future in power. I believe that the answer for generating electricity in the future lies in nuclear and fuel cell development, balanced out with renewable resources such as hydroelectric, wave and wind to be used where and when feasible.
