How do Power Plants Work?

How do Power Plants Work?


What do power plants have & pasta have in common?

Are we using your love of food to educate you about energy? Yes, we are.


How Traditional Power Plants Work

Step 1: 

  • Create heat. Lots of heat.
  • You can do this by burning coal, natural gas, creating a nuclear reaction, etc.

 

Step 2:

    • Use that heat to boil giant vats of WATER. Yes, water. Just like your pasta.
    • The steam from the boiling water spins a turbine (more on that here).
    • Power plants burn fossil fuels & release harmful emissions - the primary contributors to global warming - to boil water. 

 

Step 3:

  • Send the electricity created by the turbine over power lines.
  • Those power lines connect to our homes & buildings.

 

 

You might be thinking...

"So, can I put a little turbine over my boiling pot of quarantine pasta to generate electricity?" The answer is sadly, no. It's not enough energy to be useful. You can't be 100% pasta-powered, yet.

 

How is Solar Energy different?

  • The burning of fossil fuels (like coal) releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which in turn trap heat in our atmosphere, making them the primary contributors to global warming and climate change.
  • Solar power is one of the only forms of energy that requires ZERO moving parts. This makes it cleaner & more efficient. 

 

Got a specific question about energy?

Shoot us an email at hello@grouphugtech.com & we'll cover it in a future blog post.

 

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