Personal Insurance Blog

Where Does Your Energy Come From?

As a high school student, I am currently enrolled in a course called "Energy and the Environment," where we learn about things like pollution, where our energy comes from, and alternative sources for this energy. For this post, by "energy," I primarily mean electricity. Whenever I mention things we're learning in class to my family members, they don't seem to know what I'm talking about (and I had no idea where my electricity came from before taking this course), so I thought I'd write a post so you know where the money goes from your energy bills.

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Regardless of what kind of plant it is (coal, natural gas, nuclear, or even hydroelectric), the goal of the plant is to spin a turbine, which spins a generator, which makes electricity. Coal and natural gas plants burn their respective fuels, which heats water flowing in a pipe above the burning zone and turns it into steam, which spins the turbine. The turbine is like a giant wheel. The steam that was used to spin the turbine condenses back into water and is reused over and over. 

The generator makes electricity because it contains magnets that remain stationary in the middle and copper coils spin around it. The magnetic force causes the electrons to flow and there's electricity! There are tons of ways to make small science project generators at home. This is also how your home generator works. Anyway, the electricity goes from the generator to transmission towers and across miles of power lines to get to you. 

Coal is the dirtiest kind of energy; not only does the mining do serious harm to the surrounding environment, but coal releases tons of gross things when it's burned, like mercury and sulfur. Natural gas is a lot cleaner than coal in that its only product is carbon dioxide, but nuclear produces no carbon emissions. Of course you have to mine uranium for a nuclear plant, but once a nuclear plant receives a dose of fuel, it can run for two years without more fuel input!

Nuclear is different from the fossil fuel plants (we don't burn uranium). A nuclear plant takes uranium, which is a really unstable atom, and fires a neutron at it, which splits the nucleus of the atom so that it becomes two atoms and three floating neutrons. These extra neutrons continue splitting other atoms, causing a chain reaction. People at the plant control the reaction by dipping control rods into the reactor periodically, absorbing some of the extra neutrons. The reactor is surrounded by a containment structure to protect it. 

We have a nuclear plant here on the South Shore of Massachusetts! Do you know where your energy comes from? Check out your home insurance options in Massachusetts with us, and contact us with any insurance questions.

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