generating electricity using:
- wind= is caused by huge convection currents in the Earth's atmosphere, driven by heat energy from the Sun. The moving air has huge amounts of kinetic energy, and this can be transferred into electrical energy using wind turbines. Wind turbines cannot work if there is no wind, or if the wind speed is so high it would damage them.
- water= Moving water has kinetic energy. This can be transferred into useful energy in different ways. For example:wave machines use the up and down movement of waves to turn electricity generatorstidal barrages are built across the mouths of rivers. As water moves in or out of the river mouth when the tide turns, the kinetic energy in the water is used to turn electricity generators.Hydroelectric power (HEP) schemes store water high up in dams. The water has gravitational potential energy which is released when it falls. As the water rushes down through pipes, this stored energy is transferred to kinetic energy, which turns electricity generators.
- geothermal resources= In some places the rocks underground are hot. Deep wells can be drilled and cold water pumped down. The water runs through fractures in the rocks and is heated up. It returns to the surface as hot water and steam, where its energy can be used to drive turbines and electricity generators
- solar heating systems=
- solar cells= Solar cells are devices that convert light energy directly into electrical energy. You may have seen small solar cells on calculators. Larger arrays of solar cells are used to power road signs, and even larger arrays are used to power satellites in orbit around Earth.
- fossil fuels= originally came from sunlight. Plants used light energy from the Sun for photosynthesis to make their chemicals. This stored chemical energy was transferred to stored chemical energy in animals that ate the plants. When the living things died, they were gradually buried by layers of rock. The buried remains were put under pressure and chemical reactions heated them up. They gradually changed into the fossil fuels.When the remains of the plants and animals became fossil fuels, their chemical energy was stored in the fuels. The energy is transferred to the surroundings as thermal energy and light energy when the fuels burn.
- nuclear power=