Why is wasting electricity bad? Isn't electricity going to be around forever?

Answer 1

Yes, we will probably always use electricity, but the non-electrical form of energy used to generate it costs money and requires resources...

In the case of coal, oil and gas fired power plants, the resources are finite and we need to conserve to make the supplies last as long as possible. It also helps in reducing hydrocarbon pollution.

In the case of hydro-electric (dams), you would think that there would be an endless supply, but in fact their proper operation depends on seasonal rainfall and how much water drops through a turbine is determined by demand. If a dam can retain more water longer and not operate all of it's turbines, they can provide electricity over a longer period of time. Not to mention that it reduces maintenance on the dam as well.

In the case of nuclear energy, these use their fuel at a pretty steady rate, whether they are at full demand or not, however conservation means a reactor can serve more homes and businesses.

For wind and solar, you are correct - the supply is seemingly endless, however again, it costs money and takes resources to build and maintain these facilites. Conserving reduces maintenance costs and can help a generation station to service a broader area and more homes. Imagine if we could save 25% each month? That means existing stations could service about 25% more customers without building a new plant.

However the biggest reason to conserve is simply because it saves you, the consumer money. I'd much rather pay an $80 electric bill each month than a $120 one. I have better things I can spend my money on...

Answer 2

Well, no and yes. You probably already know that electricity is just a form of energy. Energy can be harnessed like in wind mills, hydro-electricity, and several others which is renewable(meaning it will last forever basically). Although most energy comes from petroleum, which is not renewable(meaning it will eventually run out or will take such a long time to replenish that nobody from this millenium will ever see it.) so essentially if you waste electricity then you are wasting petroleum which fuels cars, and pretty much everything with an engine. Which in a very small way hurts the enviorment, because then it eventually forces people to find more petroleum somewhere else like in Alaska, which then destroys the animals habitat. I am not an enviormentalist or a tree hugger, so I want to say you are probably not hurting anything by wasting electricity, because the best thing for the enviorment is for humans not to exist.

Answer 3

The typical answer is that wasting electricity puts an unnecessary strain on the nation's electrical infrastructure. Sure, a nuclear reactor might be able to run for a very long time with little fuel supplied to it, but the transmission equipment that distributes it throughout the country (high-voltage wiring, towers, poles, switch stations, transformers) is very expensive. The more electricity that's consumed, the greater the need for this equipment, and for additional generation stations. Remember the "brown-outs" in New York and California? Those were a result of the infrastructure supplying those areas (the "grid") not being sufficient to supply the massive demand for electricity. It takes years to build new one new generating facility, and the government is worried that the supply of electrical power is starting to fall short of the demand for it. As for the other question, nothing last forever, not even the earth we live on, or the sun. But it should be possible to generate electricity for a very, very long time, provided there are sufficient natural resources to provide it. For example, as long as a river is flowing, it's a source for hydro-electric power. Nuclear energy is also very efficient, needing very little nuclear matter to generate an incredible amount of energy.

Answer 4

Electricity that we use in our homes, offices, shops etc has to be generated and much of this is done at electricity generating stations.

Some form of energy is needed that is converted into useable electrical energy. It may be water to drive turbines to produce electricity or it may be the burning of coal or oil to produce steam to drive the turbines. Other sources of fuel include the sun (solar energy), wind, waves, geothermal (heat under the ground), ocean currents, nuclear energy etc.

Presently, most electricity around the world is generated by burning fossil fuels such as coal and oil but these are running out. When there's none left we'll have no option but to look at other sources of energy, some countries have already done so and have developed or are developing nuclear power stations.

Some people beleive that we should be developing cleaner technologies that don't produce harmful emissions, technologies such as wind and solar power.

As to why wasting electricity is bad - the more you use the more fuel is needed to produce it in the first place, this results in increased levels of pollution and brings closer the time when the fuel will run out. There is another important factor - the cost.

Will electricity be around forever? Almost certainly it will as we are totally dependent on it. The way it's generated in the first place may change but electricity will always be needed (or an alternative, as yet unknown, source of energy).

Answer 5

No, not at all. To generate electricity, you need natural resources, which will NOT be around forever.Even the Sun will transform into a dwarf star( in a long, long time), and we humans will not live on Earth forever. And why is wasting electricity bad you ask? well, because if you waste it ( say you let your lights and TV open for days and nights at home while you are gone) you waste the resources used for creating it, unless you have solar panels or wind turbines, they cannot be wasted, but we don't have many people using "greener" forms of energy at the moment.

Answer 6

Haven't you seen your winter electric bill? Power plants produce on demand power. That means when heating or air conditioning are turned on, power output increases. But you still have to pay for what you use. So, you can't really conserve electricity, just the cost to you for it.
Electric power is going to be around for a while. It's still young, being only about 100 years in use.

Answer 7

"Why is wasting electricity bad?"

Historically, the processes which have created electricity usually have consumed so-called "fossil fuels" (such as coal). "Fossil fuels" are created very slowly; humans are consuming them many times faster than they are being re-created.

Some people find it immoral to be wasteful of fossil fuels, because it is inconsiderate to unnecessarily use something up that would probably be very useful for people to have in the future.

So some people believe wasting electricity is bad because it may waste fossil fuels, so we will run out of them more quickly and future generations won't have the opportunity to benefit from them.

"Isn't electricity going to be around forever?"

Sure it is. When we run out of fossil fuels (or they become too expensive for it to be practical to use them to generate electricity), we will use other means of generating electricity. Anyone who claims we are going to "run out" of electricity is misinformed or lying; there are lots of ways to generate electricity using renewable energy sources.

However, most other ways of generating electricity are more expensive than using fossil fuels, or are less reliable (such as wind power and solar power, which depend on the weather), or are controversial for other reasons (such as nuclear power). If we are wasteful of electricity today, we might be making it more expensive for future generations, which some people consider immoral as well.

It's up to you to decide whether the above reasons are enough to make wasting electricity "bad." (However, as other people have pointed out, if you waste electricity, you're costing yourself more money. So there is an incentive to use less electricity even if you don't buy into any of the other reasons.)

Answer 8

The reason that wasting electricity is bad is that many (most?) power plants are fueled by fossil fuels. Those are a limited resource and also contribute to polution.

Wasting electricity therefore directly contributes to shortages in fossil fuels and the overall pollution problem.

Answer 9

No, electricity is NOT going to be around forever!!! Haven't you been watching the news??? All this stuff on global warming and junk!!! Electricity that comes from the SKY will be around forever, but not electricity made by PEOPLE!!! Energy sources are depleting as we speak!!! So yes, wasting electricity IS a bad thing!!! A VERY BAD THING!!!!!!!!

Answer 10

Because it takes energy to make energy, the more energy you use, they will have to burn oil or natural gas or something to make the electricity. If they use hydro power or wind power, it is dosen't use energy to make energy. Wasting electricity is also bad because it costs you money.