Green Electricity Sources

July 7th, 2010 by Steve Evans

Green electricity can be provided in a number of ways. First, let’s review one of the most widely used sources of green electricity in the world.

Hydroelectricity has an advantage over many types of green electricity for being the longest-lived source of green electricity. There are hydroelectric plants around the world that have been operating for more than 100 years. Hydroelectric power is currently experiencing a resurgence of growth in parts of the world like Asia, with China currently taking the lead in development.

Hydroelectricity features the conversion of water energy into electricity. At its most basic, hydroelectricity works by utilizing the gravitational flow of water to meet and turn turbine blades. The turbine drives a rotor in a generator that produces electricity. Many hydroelectric plants are associated in the general mind of the public with large hydroelectric dams, although plants using straight river flow also generate hydroelectricity. Hydroelectric power is generally believed to be one of the cleanest ways for the production of green electricity.

Geothermal power is another source used to produce green electricity. Geothermal power uses the natural heat from below the earth’s surface to create and capture steam. There are several ways of doing this. One is to simply pipe out the natural steam from under the earth’s surface and use it to run steam generators that generate electrical power in much the same way as hydroelectric generators. Another way is to run water through pipes under hot magma rock. The magma superheats the piped water into steam and the steam is used to drive electric generators.

The most widely adopted source of green electricity is solar power. In using solar power, photons are collected by the sun. The photons create DC electricity. In most solar energy systems, the DC electricity is converted into AC electricity through the use of a device called an inverter. The electricity produced through solar energy can be stored in batteries. In residential applications there are generally two types of solar power options available. One is called bill reduction, and is used to supply electricity back to your grid. Your electric company then discounts your bill according to how much electricity you generate with your solar panels. The other residential option is blackout protection, wherein your green electricity is stored in batteries and used in the event of a power failure.

Another kind of green electricity is produced by wind power. Wind is air in motion created by the sun’s uneven heating of the earth. Wind turbines use blades to collect the energy of the wind. Similar to hydroelectric power and geothermal energy, the wind is used to turn a rotor that drives an electric generator.

Green electricity is constantly evolving and there are other ways of creating electrical power from green sources. One of these is wave technology, in which the ocean is used as a source to generate electricity.

Certainly, green electricity is the way of the future, as more and more people are moving away from the environmentally degrading use of fossil fuels to clean energy driven electricity.

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