Selling Electricity

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Introduction

There are many people that would love to get off of the grid when it comes to electricity. By supplying your own energy source it is possible to not have to pay for the electricity that you use every day. It is possible to generate your own electricity by using solar panels, a small turbine, or windmills. In order to use a turbine it is necessary to have some type of small creek or river near your home as turbines use water or wind to generate electricity. Creating your own sources of green energy is a great way to not only save money on your electric bill, but also offers a way to make a profit if you sell your excess energy either back to the grid or to another green energy company that is likely to pay you for it based on the type of energy that you are producing.

In addition to a way of generating electricity you also have to have a way to store the electricity that you are not using. This stored energy will need to be used when you are not generating any electricity. For example, the sun does not come out at night so if you want to turn your lights on in the evening you will need to use your stored solar energy. The same goes for using windmills to generate electricity. If the wind is not blowing there is no energy or electricity being generated. You have to be able to have a backup plan for these down times. If you are able to produce enough energy to use even during times where you cannot generate electricity then you will be able to get off the grid. However, many people choose to remain connected to the grid as a backup plan.

While getting completely off of the grid may sound ideal, it is a bit risky. What happens if your equipment malfunctions? What if you do not have the time or money to repair it? If anything happens and you are unable to produce enough energy to meet your needs, you are going to be without electricity for an indeterminate amount of time.

For the reason above, it might be a good idea to stay connected to the grid. If you stay connected to the grid even when producing your own energy, you will be able to supply your home with electricity no matter what happens to your equipment. Look at staying on the grid as your backup plan for in case anything goes wrong.

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There is another very good reason that you should consider staying connected to the local power grid is the fact that it is possible to make money by doing so. Many power companies will allow a home owner to install what is called a two way meter. This meter will allow you to sell the energy that you are not using back to the power company. When considering the type of green energy that you are going to use, ask your power company if they will allow you to connect it to the grid as a way of producing energy for them. Some companies will only allow certain types of generators to be connected to their particular grid.

Each country and states within each country all have different regulations and laws for selling power back to the grid. There is typically paperwork that will need to be filled out and certain standards that have to be met. Once you have met all of the rules, the two ways meter can be installed. Once the meter is installed you are on your way to start making money.

In some cases you may already have a meter that allows for net metering installed. Net metering allows for energy to be able to flow both ways. If this is the case you do not need to have a new meter installed to start selling power back to the grid.

When you begin to produce your own energy the goal is to produce enough energy to run everything that is going on in your house. If you are able to do this you will not have to use any of the power supplied by the grid. However, if you happen to need a little extra boost now and again, you will get it from the grid and not have to worry about any problems or outages.

Every billing cycle the power company will take away the amount of energy that you have used from them from the amount that you have sent back to the grid. If you have sent back more than you have used, you will receive a check. However, if you have used the grid more than what you have returned to it you will receive a bill, just as you do now.

For those that live in smaller communities it may be possible to set up your own mini grid. If a few people in the area get together and install storage devices and generators you will all be able to share in the electricity. It is still a good idea for each person to remain on the grid, but for the most part you will be generating your own electricity and likely being paid by the power company each month for sending extra energy back to the grid.

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Creating your own mini grid or single energy source for just your home is a great way to save money and possibly make money as well. In addition, it is also very friendly for the environment. Using natural elements such as the wind, sun, and water to generate electricity does not require using fossil fuels. There is no pollution from these energy sources, which helps to start lowering greenhouse emissions. Overall, generating your own electricity is a win/win situation.

In order to start saving and possibly making money from selling electricity there are a few things that you will need to be educated in. The very first thing that you should learn and begin to understand is what electricity is and the different ways that electricity can be produced.

What is Electricity?

Electricity as we know it is a form of power and power is a type of energy. Power involves flowing electrons. It is important to understand that all matter around us is made of atoms. Each of these atoms has a center that is called the nucleus. Inside the nucleus there are particles that are charged called protons. There are also particles that are not charged that are called neutrons. Surrounding the nucleus of the atom are electrons, which have a negative charge. The number of electrons and protons inside an atom are typically equal. This balancing force can be disrupted using some type of outside force, such as a magnet. When this happens the atom can gain an electron or lose an electron. This movement of electrons is what makes up an electric current.

Power is one of nature’s basic parts. It is also one of the most commonly used types of energy. Power is actually a secondary source of energy and is obtained by converting other sources of energy, such as oil, nuclear power, coal, and natural gas as well as other natural sources. These sources are called the primary energy sources. Fossil

fuels are currently the main supply of energy throughout the United States and the world. The reason why this poses a problem is because fossil fuels are not

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renewable. These natural resources have taken millions of years to be created and they cannot be renewed once they are used. Finding a source of energy that can be used over and over is the way that the energy industry needs to go. There are many great renewable energy sources readily available and we just need to start implementing them into our everyday use. Along with implementing renewable energy sources, we also need to learn how to use less energy throughout our day to day life. Our energy consumption has become quite outrageous and cannot continue on this rapid pace.

Many cities were built next to waterfalls and other running water sources because water can be used as a primary energy source. This type of primary source is a mechanical energy source where the water is used to turn a wheel to generate a secondary energy that can be used to power other things.

Power generation has been around for a long time, but before it started being used as we know it today people lit their houses using kerosene lamps and cooled their food in iceboxes. Rooms were heated by burning wood or coal in a stove.

The principle of power started to be understood more fully after Benjamin Franklin conducted his kite experiment on a stormy night. During the middle of the 1800s Thomas Edison changed the way people would use electricity forever, by perfecting an electric light bulb. The first light bulbs Edison released could hold power for about 40 hours. Less than a year later, Edison was able to release a light bulb that would hold its power for up to 1200 hours.

Understanding the history of electricity and how it came about is extremely important as it gives insight into the way that we use electricity today. We can learn from the past and create new and better ways of using electricity and power.

While history shows that Benjamin Franklin seemed to be the first person to put together the fact that lightning was simply electricity, there are artifacts dating back to the ancient Egyptians that show they may have understood more about electricity than we might have known. The basis for this argument lies in some canisters that were found it what is now Iraq. These cylinders were hollowed out and had an iron rod placed into the middle with a copper cylinder. Similar pots have been put together today and show that electricity could have been produced in this particular manner.

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Another important person that should be mentioned when it comes to electricity and how we use it today is Nikola Tesla. Tesla is not well known, but played an important role in how electricity was developed. In fact, there are many inventions of Tesla that are still used today. It was Tesla that came up with the alternating current of electricity. Before he discovered alternating current, direct currents were used to produce electricity.

It may be argued that Tesla should be given credit for the invention of the light bulb as we know it. Tesla began working for Thomas Edison in 1882. His job was to design and improve electrical equipment at the Continental Edison Company located in France. He moved to New York City in June of 1884 and continued to work for Edison. At first Tesla was assigned to work with the simple electrical engineering projects the company was working on. However, he was quickly moved to help solve some of the hardest problems the company faced. In fact, he was given the task of overhauling the direct current generators that the company used.

In 1886, Tesla created his own company and patented designs for both the dynamo and the arc light. It was during these years that he began to develop the alternating current motor. This invention is one that we still use today as there has been no way found to improve this system. It can be said that Tesla was an inventor that was way ahead of his time.

Understanding Transformers

The light bulb was the first step in bringing electric lighting into the homes. However, one of the issues that needed to be solved was how to send power over a long distance. To solve this problem the transformer was created by George Westinghouse. The transformer makes sending electricity long distances efficient and possible. This meant that power could be supplied to homes and businesses that were locates a far distance from the power plant that generated electricity.

Electricity is a fairly important part of our everyday lives. However, the majority of people does not stop and think about what life is like with this power. In addition, most of us do not stop to consider where this power is coming from and the effect that it may have on the environment. Like the air we breathe, electricity is simply taken for granted. We use the power of electricity every single day.

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Power is used to heat and cool the home, to provide us with light in our homes when we need it, and to provide us with the energy needed to run our favorite sources of entertainment, the computer and television.

In the United States, the electric power industry has been organized into power grids. These power grids ensure that there is an adequate supply of power available at all times to meet the requirements at any given moment. Power companies have to be able to store energy to use during peak or high use times. They can do this by storing excess energy during low use times. These companies have to maintain a delicate balance in order to maintain an appropriate supply to meet the demand.

Generating Power

Electric generators are used in order to convert mechanical energy to electrical energy. The process for this conversion is based on the relationship of power and magnetism. This comes back to the positive and negative energy that is inside each atom. When a wire or other type of electric conducting material is moved through a magnetic field it creates a disruption in the nucleus of the atom and forms an electric current throughout the wire. The large electric utility companies use large generators with a stationary conductor to generate this energy.

A magnet is attached to the ends of a shaft that will rotate. This shaft is set inside a conducting ring that remains stationary. The conducting ring is wrapped with a continuous, long piece of wire. As the magnet rotates it will create a small electric current through the sections of the wire that it goes past. Every section of the wire is technically a small and separate electric conductor. The small currents from each of these sections add up to a current of a considerable size. This large current is then used to provide electric power.

Using Turbines to Create Power

Power stations will use a water wheel, engine, turbine, or similar machine in order to drive an electric generator or other type of device that can convert mechanical energy or chemical energy into power. The most common methods of generating power

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are wind turbines, water turbines, steam turbines, gas combustion turbines, and internal combustion turbines.

In the United States, the majority of power that is produced is created through steam turbines that are located in power plants. A turbine works by converting the kinetic energy of fluid that is moving, such as liquid or gas, into mechanical energy.

A steam turbine will have a series of blades that are mounted onto a shaft. The steam will be forced on the shaft in order to move the blades. The shaft is connected to a generator. In turbines that use fossil fuels the fossil fuel is burned inside a furnace in order to heat up water that is located in a boiler. This water that is heated by the fossil fuels will then turn into the steam that will spin the turbine.

Natural gas, oil, and coal are all fossil fuels that are burned inside large furnaces in order to heat the water that makes the steam to push the blades of the turbine. In the year 2000, over half of the 3.8 trillion kilowatts/hour of energy produced in the United States was from burning coal. A total of 52% of thermal energy that was generated in power stations was from coal.

Natural gas can be burned to heat the water for steam, but can also be burned in order to create hot combustion gases that can pass through the turbine directly. These combustion gases go through the turbine and spin the blades, just as steam does in order to generate power. When utility usage is high in demand gas turbines are often used to keep up with the demand. In 2000, approximately 16% of the United States power was generated by the use of natural gas.

Petroleum or oil can be used to make steam to power turn the blades of a turbine as well. Residual fuel oil, which is made from crude oil, is often the type of petroleum that is used in order to produce steam. In 2000, petroleum generated less than 3% of the power in power plants in the United States.

Another process for creating steam is nuclear fission. A nuclear power plant uses a reactor that has a core with nuclear fuel, which is mostly enriched uranium. When the atoms of uranium are hit by neutrons they will split (fission). This process releases heat along with more neutrons. In a controlled condition these neurons can hit other uranium atoms, which in turn cause more atoms to split, and this process

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can go on and on. This means that fission can be continuous as a chain reaction occurs releasing heat along the way. This heat is then used to turn the water into steam and that steam will spin the turbine in order to generate power. About 20% of the United States power is generated by nuclear power.

Approximately 7% of the United States power generation is from hydropower. This process uses flowing water to spin the turbine that is connected to a generator. There are two types of basic hydroelectric systems that are used to produce power. The first system uses flowing water that accumulates in reservoirs by the use of dams. The water is pushed through a pipe that is called a penstock. This water flow applies pressure to the blades of the turbine and drives the generator to produce the necessary power.

A second type of hydroelectric system is called the run of river system. Just as it sounds, this system uses a flowing river to move the turbine blades in order to produce power.

Other Sources of Power Generation

Another source of power that can be used is called geothermal power. This type of power uses the heat energy that is buried within the surface of the earth. There are areas around the world where there is enough heat coming up from the earth’s surface that the underground water is turned to steam. This steam can then be used at steam turbine energy plants. Currently, less than one percent

of the power in the United States comes from geothermal energy. The main reason for this is because the locations of these “hot springs” are scattered and some are not ideal for creating a power plant nearby.

Solar power is energy that comes from the sun. One of the problems with solar energy is the fact that it is not available 24 hours a day and there are some days where the sun does not shine at all. Producing solar energy has been generally more expensive than producing energy from fossil fuels. However, as we are seeing people becoming more and more aware of the strain that using fossil fuels

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