Our world today requires energy. Everything from charging your cell phone so you can text your friends to powering an entire hospital so patients can get the treatment that they need requires electricity, and in a lot of cases a large amount of electricity. But this electricity is not just picked out of the air, in fact there is a very laborious process that must take place in order for electricity to reach its destination. This is a process that has changed over time, as well as the dominant ways in which we power our lights, buildings, and homes.
Electricity and power is not something that naturally exists in our world, and it certainly is not delivered to our homes magically. The way that energy gets to businesses and our personal homes is through the nation’s energy grid, a system of over 450,000 high voltage power lines that criss-cross the entire country. The idea is to transmit electricity from the power creators (power plants) to consumers across the country (homes and businesses). Houses use relatively low voltages of electricity, but in order for power plants to send electricity to consumers, the electricity must be sent in high voltages so it can reach far away destinations. Power plants cannot produce energy at intensely high voltages so alternating current is needed to step the voltage up for transmission and then back down to lower voltages to be used in homes. The step up and step back down in voltage is completed by transformers. The power grid is the network of many miles of power lines that deliver electricity to homes across the country. In the US the grid is split into the Western Interconnection, Eastern Interconnection, and the Texas Interconnection and have control centers within them to regulate how much power is flowing at any given moment to match demand of electricity.
The national power grid is something of a modern marvel. A system that has the capability to deliver energy to everyone in the country and uses the technology of alternating currents to speed up and slow down the voltages that connect that power from the generators to the consumers requires years and years of research and development. The Global Energy Network Institute estimates that in 2002 the United States generated 3,836 billion kilowathours of electricity, which is an amazing feat.
However this network of wires can run into issues of reliability, safety, and efficiency. Much of this process happens above ground, which leaves all of the parts of the process of power delivery susceptible to the elements. This is why when there is a heavy thunderstorm or snowstorm power can occasionally be dropped, because one of the facets of the process has been compromised. On top of that, much of the hardware used to create the grid such as cables, poles, and transformers are on their last legs. The American Society of Civil Engineers predicts that if nothing is done about the aging grid, the whole system could break down as soon as the year 2020. As of now there are not many ways of simply storing the electricity that we produce, which puts more stress on the aging equipment. If we were to introduce some sort of energy storing battery system, the country could rely much more on renewable energy like wind and solar.
Regardless of whether or not the US switches to a more renewable form of energy or if it stays with the current grid system, it is clear that changes need to be made. If the country waits until the end of 2020 to make serious improvements it could be too late. Luckily starting in 2010 there were many improvements made to modernize the grid and therefore lengthen its life substantially. However, we as consumers of energy must find a way to limit our use of electricity so that the life of the power grid will continue past its life expectancy.
Reverences
http://energy.gov/articles/top-9-things-you-didnt-know-about-americas-power-grid
http://www.geni.org/globalenergy/library/national_energy_grid/united-states-of-america/index.shtml
http://www.scpr.org/news/2012/07/07/33154/gridlock-storms-blackouts-expose-power-problems/