since mega jewels of electricity have to be powered down for home use,and if not all electricity is used at its destination,do we store it up for later?How?
2007-04-02 14:49:38 · 9 answers · asked by stygianwolfe 7 in Environment
That is the problem with electricity, we can't store or transport it easily. That is why we depend so heavily on fossil fuels.
Generating stations are either base load or peak load. Nuke are base load, and coal, oil and natural gas are more flexible and hydro stations are easily started and stopped.
We can turn on and shut down different sized peak load stations. It is known as "load following". So we can increase and decrease how much power is produced to follow how much is consumed, but we can't store the electricity.
2007-04-02 15:10:47 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
I really like Thomas C's answer and give it a big thumbs up!
But it is really just a complicated way of saying that the generating stations just generate less if less is needed. The twist he adds is the ways they sometimes use the extra electricity to store up energy in non-electrical form to be used later to generate more electricity. Even a battery is a non-electrical type of energy; it is chemical energy. The only truly electrical type of storage would be a capacitor.
2007-04-02 22:47:27 · answer #2 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
At any given instant in time there is no "un-used" electricity, however electricity CAN be stored for use later.
The "grid" absorbs the extra by increasing the frequency ever so slightly. Keep in mind that there are dozens or hundreds of spinning generators all rotating in synch with each other. While the normal frequency is 60.00 Hz, during periods of heavy load the frequency might dip to 59.99 or 58.98 Hz. Kind of like how your engine slows down as you begin going up a hill. Fortunately the "grid" is massive relative to load swings, and steps can be taken to counter act the changes. A sophisticated clock keeps track of the real time compared to the fluctuating 60 Hz. During the night, the grid might be purposely run slightly faster (60.01) for several hours to offset the slower frequencies earlier in the day to maintain an overall average of 60.00 Hz.
Yes, electricity can be stored.
In the big picture, it is difficult to throttle up or down large generating units. Many units are designed to run "flat out" and load cycling actually ages the mechanical components prematurely. There are a few technologies to "store it for later", and some are done commercially on a large scale.
Pumped Storage: During periods of light electrical loads, (like during the night) water is pumped up a hill to a giant reservoir. When the demand goes up, they let the water flow back down the pipes, using the pump/motor as a turbine/generator. This way electricity is stored when energy is cheap, and used when the production costs are higher. For every kWh that is used to pump water up the hill, they get about 2/3 of a kWh back out. But remember that they pumped the water up the hill with very cheap power.
Another pumped storage method is to use compressed air in large underground caverns. This one is more complicated to do, but has been done in large-scale projects.
Other technologies include battery storage and spinning flywheels. These are typically done at individual customers or at the substation to ride through minor disturbances. I know of at least one massive battery installation at a substation that helps offset peak load requirements for several hours.
2007-04-02 22:38:43 · answer #3 · answered by Thomas C 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Nope. Anything that doesn't get used goes to waste. If you could come up with an effective means of storing and distributing massive quantities of electricity, you just might solve the human energy dilemma. Solar and wind and tidal energy could be used for all our requirements and oil, coal, etc would become obsolete.
2007-04-02 21:53:52 · answer #4 · answered by dreamed1 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
--I doubt electricity can be stored as solar energy can be.
--In my present understanding it would seem that much of electrical energy is disapated through wires,faulty generators & other equipment etc.
--It would seem that gigantic batteries would be needed to store electricity , and the question of safety & other matters would bring that method into question!
2007-04-02 21:58:21 · answer #5 · answered by THA 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Ha! Unused electricity...that's funny
2007-04-02 21:52:38 · answer #6 · answered by darcy_t2e 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋
It is used. The lines only draw as much as needed. from demand down line.
2007-04-02 21:53:06 · answer #7 · answered by redd headd 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
wasted as HEAT. basic thermodynamics.
2007-04-02 22:27:41 · answer #8 · answered by johnjohnwuzhere 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Nope, it's just not generated.
2007-04-02 21:56:04 · answer #9 · answered by Gene 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋