ELECTRICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA

What is Geothermal Electricity?   Technologies in use include dry steam power plants, flash steam power plants and binary cycle power plants. Geothermal electricity generation is currently used in 24 countries while geothermal heating is in use in 70 countries. Estimates of the electricity generating potential of geothermal energy vary from 35 to 2000 GW.[2] Current worldwide installed capacity is 10,715 megawatts (MW), with the largest capacity in the United States (3,086 MW), Philippines, and Indonesia. Geothermal power is considered to be sustainable because the heat extraction is small compared with the Earth's heat content. The emission intensity of existing geothermal electric plants is on average 122 kg of CO2 per megawatt-hour (MW·h) of electricity, about one-eighth of a conventional coal-fired plant.. continue.. What is Geothermal Energy?   Geothermal energy is thermal energy generated and stored in the Earth. Thermal energy is energy that determines the temperature o

What is Wind Power?   The Earth is unevenly heated by the sun, such that the poles receive less energy from the sun than the equator; along with this, dry land heats up (and cools down) more quickly than the seas do. The differential heating drives a global atmospheric convection system reaching from the Earth's surface to the stratosphere which acts as a virtual ceiling. Most of the energy stored in these wind movements can be found at high altitudes where continuous wind speeds of over 160 km/h (99 mph) occur. Eventually, the wind energy is converted through friction into diffuse heat throughout the Earth's surface and the atmosphere. continue.. Wind Power Technology   Wind power is produced by using wind generators to harness the kinetic energy of wind. It is gaining worldwide popularity as a large scale energy source, although it still only provides less than one percent of global energy consumption. The articles listed below explore wind power and its usage around the wo

Hydroelectricity   Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy. Once a hydroelectric complex is constructed, the project produces no direct waste, and has a considerably lower output level of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) than fossil fuel powered energy plants. Worldwide, an installed capacity of 777 GWe supplied 2998 TWh of hydroelectricity in 2006.[1] This was approximately 20% of the world's electricity, and accounted for about 88% of electricity from renewable sources. continue.. How Hydroelectricity/hydropower works?   The theory is to build a dam on a large river that has a large drop in elevation (there are not many hydroelectric plants in Kansas or Florida). The dam stores lots of water behind it in the reservoir. Near the bottom of the dam wall there is the water intake

Circuit Breaker   A circuit breaker is an automatically operated electrical switch designed to protect an electrical circuit from damage caused by overload or short circuit. Its basic function is to detect a fault condition and, by interrupting continuity, to immediately discontinue electrical flow. Unlike a fuse, which operates once and then has to be replaced, a circuit breaker can be reset (either manually or automatically) to resume normal operation. Circuit breakers are made in varying sizes, from small devices that protect an individual household appliance up to large switchgear designed to protect high voltage circuits feeding an entire city. continue.. Guidelines for Low Voltage Circuit Breaker   We all want to have a reliable data center, and one key to data center uptime is circuit breaker reliability. As such, a detailed evaluation of the circuit breaker design and functionality at the design stage of the data center is extremely important. This white paper from Schneider

Electrical Accidents Statistics   Home safety is one of the biggest concerns for consumers today. Not only is the safety of their family a huge issue, but no one wants to lose all of their materials in an accident that could have been prevented. One area that consumers have begun to learn more concerning safety is electricity. Every year, tens of thousands of people are either killed or injured from contact with electricity. Most of these incidents happen because of a lack of safety precautions, as well as overall knowledge in the field of electricity.. continue.. Common causes of electrical accidents   We use electricity every day to light our homes and operate numerous household appliances. We also use electricity in the workplace, of course. Lights and other common household and office appliances are generally safe to use but improper use can lead to serious accidents or even death. Always use electrical appliances as directed. You should take special care when making electrical re

LED lamps   An LED lamp (LED light bulb) is a solid-state lamp that uses light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as the source of light. The LEDs involved may be conventional semiconductor light-emitting diodes, organic LEDs (OLED), or polymer light-emitting diodes (PLED) devices, although PLED technologies are not currently commercially available. Since the light output of individual light-emitting diodes is small compared to incandescent and compact fluorescent lamps, multiple diodes are often used together. In recent years, as diode technology has improved, high power light-emitting diodes with higher lumen output are making it possible to replace other lamps with LED lamps. One high power LED chip used in some commercial LED lights can emit 7,527 lumens while using only 100 watts. LED lamps can be made interchangeable with other types of lamps... continue..     Energy efficient lighting   Manufacturers have expanded the application of LEDs by "clustering" the small bulbs. The fir

Repairing and Troubleshooting Fluorescent Fixtures   On the home repair scale of 1 to 10 (10 being hardest), repairing a fluorescent fixture is a 3 or 4... fairly simple but some basic electrical skills are necessary, such as being able to identify wires by color, stripping insulation from the ends of cut wires, installing wire nuts and reading instructions.  I added the first and last with tongue in cheek... I know most of you are not color-blind and most of you can read... or you wouldn't be here!. continue..   Replacing Fluorescent Lightbulbs   Changing a burned-out fluorescent lightbulb is only a bit harder than replacing a conventional one. Here we'll walk you through it and help troubleshoot a couple of possible problems. continue.. Fluroscent Lamps Wiring Diagrams   The fluorescent light remains one f the most poplar form of lighting despite the many  advancements made in recent years. Though many other more fanciful forms of lighting fixtures have been gaining popul