Trystan Casey
There are two main categories of electricity sources: renewable and non-renewable. Non-renewable sources, also known as fossil fuels, include coal, natural gas, petroleum, and oil. Renewable energy sources include wind, solar, geothermal, hydropower, and biomass. The use of these sources varies by country, with some countries relying heavily on renewable sources, while others continue to depend on fossil fuels.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Primary energy sources | Fossil fuels, nuclear energy, and renewable energy |
| Fossil fuels | Coal, natural gas, petroleum, oil, and gas |
| Renewable energy sources | Wind, solar, geothermal, hydropower, biomass |
| 2023 US utility-scale electricity generation | 21% from renewable energy sources |
| 18% from nuclear energy | |
| 0.4% from petroleum | |
| 0.5% from other gases and sources | |
| Global electricity production | Coal and gas are the largest sources |
| Low-carbon electricity | Hydropower and nuclear power |
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What You'll Learn
Fossil fuels: coal, gas, and oil
Fossil fuels—coal, gas, and oil—are the most common sources of electricity worldwide. In 2017, fossil fuels generated 64.5% of electricity worldwide, a figure that has been steadily increasing since 1990. Fossil fuel power plants burn coal, oil, or gas to create heat, which is used to generate steam to drive turbines that generate electricity.
Coal is a sedimentary deposit composed predominantly of carbon that is readily combustible. Coal is formed from plant remains that have been compacted, hardened, chemically altered, and metamorphosed by heat. There are four major types of coal: anthracite, bituminous coal, subbituminous coal, and lignite. Anthracite is the highest rank of coal and is often referred to as "hard coal" due to its hard, brittle, and black lustrous composition. Bituminous coal is a middle rank coal that is sometimes referred to as "cannel coal" or "oil shale." Subbituminous coal and lignite are lower-rank coals that are used in coal-fired power plants. In 2019, about 23% of all electricity in the United States was generated by coal-fired power plants.
Gas is another fossil fuel that is found in pockets under the earth's surface. Burning gas creates heat, which powers a turbine that spins a generator to produce electricity. Gas-fired power plants use open-cycle fast turbines (OCGT) or combined cycle gas turbines (CCGT) to generate electricity. OCGTs are smaller and cheaper to build, making them ideal for short runs of energy production. CCGTs are more efficient but more costly to build, as they use the hot air exiting the engine to generate steam, which drives another turbine to produce more energy.
Oil is also a fossil fuel that can be used to generate electricity, although it is less commonly used for this purpose compared to coal and gas. Oil is a non-renewable source of energy that is often transported over long distances, which can result in potential supply issues and unstable generation costs.
While fossil fuels are reliable and affordable sources of electricity, they contribute significantly to air pollution and climate change. The burning of fossil fuels produces large amounts of carbon dioxide and other pollutants, such as oxides of sulphur and nitrogen, which cause acid rain and have severe health impacts. As such, there is a growing need to transition to cleaner sources of energy, such as nuclear power and renewable energy sources.
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Nuclear energy
Nuclear power has been used since the 1940s, with the first electricity generation by a nuclear reactor occurring in 1951. In recent years, nuclear energy has faced competition from renewable sources such as wind, solar, and hydropower, which are growing quickly. However, nuclear power still plays a significant role in global electricity production, providing about 9% of the world's electricity from about 440 power reactors.
Nuclear power has faced some setbacks due to safety concerns and accidents, such as the Fukushima disaster in Japan in 2011. These incidents have led to increased scrutiny and regulatory challenges, impacting the economic viability of nuclear power. However, some countries, like Japan and Germany, are revisiting nuclear energy as a strategy to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels and combat fluctuating fossil fuel market prices.
Nuclear technology has applications beyond electricity generation, including in medicine, industry, and space exploration. It also plays a role in controlling the spread of diseases and assisting doctors in diagnosis and treatment. Nuclear power plants emit no greenhouse gases and have lower fatality rates per unit of energy generated compared to other energy sources.
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Renewable energy: wind, solar, hydropower
There are two main types of electrical charge: positive and negative. Electrical energy can be produced through various methods, including friction, heat, light, chemical reactions, pressure, and magnetism.
Renewable energy is often classified as hydro, solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, wave, and tide. Most renewable energy comes either directly or indirectly from the sun. Sunlight, or solar energy, can be used for heating, lighting, and generating electricity. Solar energy systems use radiation from the sun to produce heat and electricity. There are three basic categories of solar energy systems: photovoltaic (PV) systems, solar thermal heating systems, and solar thermal power plants.
Wind energy is converted to electricity with wind turbines that are usually grouped together in wind farms. The sun's heat drives the winds, and its energy is captured by wind turbines. The wind and the sun's heat cause water to evaporate, and when this water vapor turns into rain or snow and flows downhill into rivers or streams, its energy can be captured using conventional hydropower. Hydropower uses water in dams or flowing in streams and rivers to spin a turbine and generate electricity.
Biomass energy is produced from non-fossilized plant materials, including biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel, and municipal solid waste.
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Geothermal power plants
There are two main types of electrical charge: positive and negative. The movement of electrical charges, or electrons, through a wire creates electricity. This is how power plants generate electricity on a large scale. One such method is through geothermal power plants.
There are three main types of geothermal power plant technologies: dry steam, flash steam, and binary cycle. Dry steam plants are the oldest type of geothermal power plants, with the first one being used in Italy in 1904. They use hydrothermal fluids that are already mostly steam, which is a relatively rare natural occurrence. The steam is drawn directly to a turbine that drives a generator to produce electricity. After the steam condenses, it is frequently reinjected into the reservoir.
Flash steam plants are a common type of geothermal power plant in operation today. Fluids at temperatures greater than 182°C (360°F) are pumped from deep underground and travel under high pressures to a low-pressure tank at the Earth's surface. The change in pressure causes some of the fluid to rapidly transform, or "flash," into vapour. The vapour then drives a turbine, which drives a generator. If any liquid remains in the low-pressure tank, it can be "flashed" again in a second tank to extract even more energy.
Binary-cycle geothermal power plants can use lower-temperature geothermal resources, making them important for deploying geothermal electricity production in more locations. In these plants, the geothermal reservoir fluids do not come into contact with the turbine units. Low-temperature (below 182°C/360°F) geothermal fluids pass through a heat exchanger with a secondary, or "binary," fluid. This binary fluid has a much lower boiling point than water, and the modest heat from the geothermal fluid causes it to flash to vapour, which then drives the turbines, spins the generators, and creates electricity.
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Petroleum
There are two main types of electrical charge: positive and negative. The three major categories of energy for electricity generation are fossil fuels, nuclear energy, and renewable energy. Fossil fuels include coal, natural gas, and petroleum. Petroleum was the source of about 0.4% of U.S. electricity generation in 2023.
In the context of electricity generation, petroleum is often referred to as fuel oil. There are two main types of fuel oil used for this purpose: residual fuel oil and distillate fuel oil. Residual fuel oil, also known as petroleum coke, is a byproduct of the petroleum refining process. It is a solid or semi-solid substance with a high energy density, making it suitable for use in steam turbines and gas turbines. Steam turbines use the heat from burning fuel to produce steam, which then turns a turbine to generate electricity. Gas turbines, on the other hand, directly burn fuel to produce hot gases that turn the turbine.
Distillate fuel oil, also known as diesel fuel, is a type of liquid fuel that is commonly used in internal combustion engines. These engines, such as diesel-engine generators, use the fuel to power a piston, which then turns a crankshaft, ultimately generating electricity. Distillate fuel oil can also be used in gas turbines and steam turbines, providing flexibility in electricity generation.
While petroleum plays a significant role in electricity generation, it is important to recognize that it is a non-renewable resource with environmental implications. As a fossil fuel, the burning of petroleum contributes to carbon dioxide emissions, which have been identified as the largest source of global CO2 emissions. This has led to a growing emphasis on transitioning to renewable and low-carbon sources of electricity, such as wind, solar, hydropower, and nuclear energy.
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Frequently asked questions
There are many sources of electricity, but the two main categories are fossil fuels and low-carbon sources. Fossil fuels include coal, natural gas, and petroleum. Low-carbon sources include nuclear energy and renewable energy.
Examples of renewable energy sources include wind, solar, geothermal, hydropower, and biomass.
Fossil fuels are converted into electricity through a process called steam turbine generation. This process involves using the heat produced by burning fossil fuels to create steam, which then moves the blades of a turbine to generate electricity.
