Electricity

By generating electrical power , energy suppliers provide households and companies with electrical energy. For example, you can use devices such as the television and your laptop. But electricity is also needed for the light in all rooms and, for example, the light in the refrigerator. In addition, electricity is increasingly used in cooking. Without electricity, your life becomes very small, because you can no longer watch your favorite series on Netflix or, for example, order clothes online.

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Transport of electrical power via the high-voltage grid

 

What is electricity?

It is difficult to describe exactly what electricity is if you do not understand it. It is a form of energy produced by the movement or flow of electrons, or tiny particles in atoms. This movement creates an electrical charge or voltage that releases energy. Here you have many different sizes of energy yield. For example, a small yield is the light bulb in a flashlight. There are two types of energy, namely static and dynamic electricity. Static electricity does not move, while dynamic electricity does move. Static electricity occurs when you take off a sweater, for example, and dynamic electricity is the flow of electricity through a metal wire. 

Generating green electricity with sustainable energy sources

The generation of green electricity can be through renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, hydro, air and soil heat and biomass, involving organic matter like fruits and vegetables or timber. Green gas can be generated from biomass by fermenting manure and other residual flows or by combining wood pellets from pressed sawdust in coal-fired power stations.

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But it is also possible to generate this by burning waste wood in special biomass plants or by burning household waste in waste incineration plants.

 

Dam for the production of electricity from hydropower

 

Generating electricity with traditional energy sources

In addition, you also have traditional energy sources that can generate electricity, such as coal, natural gas , nuclear energy and petroleum. In coal-fired power stations they burn coal, releasing heat and allowing water to be heated. Heat is also released during the combustion of natural gas. Nuclear energy releases heat through nuclear reactions. The process for petroleum is similar to coal and natural gas. Ultimately, the heat generated in a nuclear power plant is converted into electricity via steam, turbines or generators.

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Nuclear power plant

 

The benefits of electricity

You need electricity to run lights and appliances. You can also generate electricity from sustainable or traditional energy sources. Each energy source has its own advantages. For example, biomass is very cheap, does not run out and uses vegetable and garden waste that we would otherwise throw away. Solar energy uses a free resource, is good for the environment and cannot run out. Geothermal energy is less harmful to the environment and uses a free energy source. Hydropower uses used water, is a source of renewable energy and does not emit any greenhouse gases. The same goes for wind energy. Coal, oil and natural gas can be found in countless places around the world and coal is relatively cheap. Finally, with nuclear energy you have the advantage that nuclear fuel does not emit harmful greenhouse gases and you only need a small amount to generate electricity. 

The disadvantages of electricity

In addition to all the advantages of the renewable and traditional energy sources, there are also a number of disadvantages associated with each source. For example, biomass pollutes the environment and there is not enough space to grow sufficient biomass.

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The same goes for geothermal energy. Solar energy and hydropower are expensive energy sources. Furthermore, with solar energy you do not generate any energy when it is cloudy and at night, with wind energy nothing if there is no wind and with hydropower not much if it does not rain enough. In addition, for wind energy you need a lot of turbines to generate a lot of electricity. Furthermore, coal, petroleum and natural gas are extremely harmful to the environment and these fuels will eventually run out. Also, mining coal in mines is dangerous and unhealthy. 

The applications of electricity

Electricity can be used for a wide variety of applications, such as street or home lighting. It also provides heating in your car or with a radiant heater and it can also provide cooling in, for example, your refrigerator or if you use air conditioning .

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It ensures that you can use household appliances via the socket, such as a washing machine or a vacuum cleaner, it stores energy in, for example, the battery of your telephone or in an electric car and provides the power supply for public transport. Electricity is therefore necessary to be able to enjoy all the comforts at home and outside.

Need a new energy supplier?

If you want to choose a new energy supplier and you find it important that you know where the energy comes from (Belgium or abroad), whether the energy offered is green and / or gray, whether the energy comes from nuclear power plants or not …

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Then you can use our tool to compare all  energy suppliers  and find out through which energy source they can offer electricity. You can view the electricity prices here.