It goes without saying that energy is important, which is a funny phrase to use as a rhetorical flourish, because I’m going to tell you how important it is anyway. You’re reading this on a phone or computer right now, unless you printed it out (if so, thank you, you’re my biggest fan). Obviously, without energy, you wouldn’t be able to do that. Also, the food that keeps you alive? Well, without electricity to keep the lights on at the farm and the sprinklers running, oil to run farming equipment and heat to keep everyone warm, there’s a lot less of that. Want to drive to work? Well, without energy, you’re walking, and, admit it, you probably won’t be able to get any work done.

That means a country absolutely collapses if it doesn’t have enough energy. Energy security are the efforts by a government or other organization to secure access to energy and avoid potentially disastrous consequences. Energy security comes in a bunch of different forms, depending on the kind of energy you’re trying to secure.

There’s the most obvious form of energy security: protecting infrastructure. One way of doing this is to literally put security around key buildings and energy generating facilities. A nuclear plant will have a number of physical security features to keep intruders out, given the danger that a malfunction poses. Canada’s nuclear security includes armoured cars and armed guards available 24/7; it’s not taken lightly. Another way you can maintain security is redundancy; by creating a grid that has multiple connection points, power can be maintained even if one point on the grid is destroyed. Energy can be rerouted throughout the grid so multiple fault points would have to be attacked in order to take it down.

Energy security also means avoiding energy poverty; when no citizen can afford energy, the economy shuts down. Oil prices are thus critical to energy security. Countries can opt to boost their own oil production in order to achieve energy security; this is, of course, only possible if they have access to petroleum reserves. Countries can also try to form alliances with other countries high in oil production; this is useful when you are sympathetic to the country’s actions, but can cause problems if the country you’re importing the most petroleum from engages in actions you consider negative.

Another means of addressing energy poverty is to focus on renewable energies; this is especially useful for countries who do not have large reserves of petroleum, as it reduces their reliance on what might be unstable alliances. Eventually, renewable energy will be essential, as oil and nuclear reserves are depleted.

Decentralization is another potential method of achieving energy security; when all citizens of a country are producing enough energy to meet their own needs, it becomes almost impossible to threaten energy production. A team of qualified electricians can help you by installing renewable electric energy generation for your own home. Energy independence doesn’t just help keep energy secure, it costs less than buying energy in the long run!

What would the earth look like without electricity? Have you ever seen a whole city without electricity? It's a pretty disturbing picture. Electricity is one of the fundamental needs of life everywhere, whether you're a superpower nation or a third-world country.

How is electricity made and is there enough to provide for the whole world for the next year? Or how about the next five years? 20 years? The earth uses so much electricity that governments are continually trying to look for ways to produce electricity.

Uses of Electricity

Personal: Although the total power consumption differs from every nation and every house, it's interesting to note that for most of the western world (USA, EU, UK, Canada, among others) the uses of residential electricity are quite similar.

The top four uses are always cooling, heating, lighting, entertainment (followed by washing, cooking, and refrigeration).

Everywhere Else: The world will cease to operate if there is no electricity. As you know, 99% of the modern world is operated by computers, and computers run on, right, electricity.

The elevators, the public transport systems, communication systems, the department stores, hospitals, heck, even the vending machine needs electricity to work. So no one can say that we don't need electricity.

Top 2 Ways

1. Fossil fuels: almost 70% of the world uses fossil fuels (natural gas, oil, coal). The following is the process of producing electricity from fossil fuels:

- Heat is discharged from the fossil fuel.
- The heat then boils the water to create steam.
- The steam turns the power turbine or any rotating instrument.
- The instrument then utilizes a generator and electricity is, well, generated.
- The electric power continues to the power plant which transfers the electricity to the transformers for dissemination to the respective locations.

2. Renewable energy: Almost all power generators use a turbine or a rotating instrument to produce energy which in turn generates the electricity. And this is no more clear than in renewable energy (i.e., windmills).

Renewable energy primarily comes from hydroelectric, geothermal, water, and now even solar. The process of generating electricity is somewhat similar for all the various sources.

Nuclear Power

This might be the most controversial. Yes, it is potentially hazardous because it uses radiation technology. Although it doesn't produce any greenhouse emission (the stuff that burns a hole in the atmosphere), the risk of the radiation contamination is always there.

However, no one can deny that this is also a viable source of power and electricity, especially for those areas where fossil fuels and renewable energy are harder to come by. The power plant just needs to have the strictest guidelines and safety warning installed.

Ask An Expert

So now that you have an idea how electricity is made, don't you just get the feeling that maybe we need to save and minimize our electrical uses for future use? If so, then good for you.

You need to ask an expert to help you out with this. Electrical work in the house that is not done correctly is a huge source of wasted energy, not to mention a risk for you and your family. So get in touch with a local electrical company that offers the expertise and care that you need.

Hydroelectric energy is energy, by which its name implies, produced by moving water. Most of the stations are near the waterfalls because the energy being produced is highly dependent on the speed and the volume of the water. The water hits the turbine causing them to spin consequently making the generator motors spin thus the production of electricity.

Hydroelectricity is the largest source of Canada’s electric power. It is a renewable and environmental-friendly source of energy, therefore, the continual advocate for it more than any other sources of electric energy.

 

1850 - 1900

North Americans took advantage of the energy the moving water can generate through turbines and waterwheels. By the late 1950s, they were using the energy to power types of machinery like sawmills. Through the 1860s to 1870s massive production of turbines were seen, and; by 1880 hydroelectricity was introduced and about the same time Thomas Edison manufactured electric generators using direct current(DC).

The demand for electricity followed. By late 1880s, hydroelectricity became well-established. It is also by this time that copper became expensive as it was primarily used as a conductor for long-distance energy transmission.

In the 1890s, the transformers were introduced allowing the high-voltage transmission via alternating current (AC). It facilitated long-distance energy transmission and paved way to developing very remote sites of hydroelectric energy.   

1900 - 1945

There was a boost in the development of various hydroelectric sites by early 1900s. More sites were exploited to ensure the reach of electric power. By 1903, a site in Shawinigan, Quebec was supplying hydroelectric energy to Montreal. By 1910, Niagara Falls was powering Ontario Hydro.

Quebec and Ontario housed the main stations of hydroelectric power while minor developments were rising in British Columbia, Maritimes, and Alberta. The northern territories were served by the major hydro plant by 1950s except Saskatchewan which saw the development of hydroelectric energy by early 1960s. The developments of the generation of hydroelectricity continued to flourish only to be slowed down by World War II.

1945 - Present

The demand for electric power steadily rose after 1945 so were the installations of hydropower plants and thermal power plants. Electric consumption started slowing in 1973 after the energy crisis impacting economic activities.

1920 to 1950

Were the golden years of hydroelectric-power stations. By 1970s, cost-effective alternatives such as thermal stations using fossil fuels began rising. One of the reasons why hydroelectric energy was rather expensive was because of the cost of the site development as well as the added cost of transmission depending on proximity.

The competition became rigid when nuclear power plants and thermal stations using natural gas, coal, or oil entered the market. As of today, the following alternatives of generating electric energy are widely adopted.

The 2010s

One of the reasons why environmentalists favor hydroelectric energy among others is that it does not contribute to the pollution than other means of electric energy do. In Canada, 59% of the countries electrical energy consumption by 2010 were generated from hydroelectric power plants. Being a renewable energy, hydroelectric energy is a viable option depending on the resource.