A Brief Explanation of Power in Your Home

Electricity is easy to take for granted. We all use many appliances throughout the day, such as lights, toasters, phone chargers, and computers. For such electrical devices, the only interface we have is a wall switch or an outlet. Most of the work goes on out of sight behind the walls. As a testament to how much we depend on electricity, unexpected power outages can be quite crippling. Electric stoves and microwaves cannot be used to cook meals. Food cannot be kept for long without refrigeration. Depending on your location, hot weather is miserable without air conditioning. If you've ever wondered how all this is possible, there are several devices used to bring power to your home.

Electrical Interface in the Home

The most common interfaces with electricity in the home is the outlet plug and the wall switch. This is how most of your household appliances are powered. You plug in the device or flip the switch, and, presto, it's powered and working just like you want it to.

There is another interface with electricity in the house though. Each home has a circuit or electric breaker, which is a safety device that will interrupt the flow of electricity by breaking the electrical circuit to protect users. The circuit breaker will protect equipment in addition to people from harm during unsafe conditions such as a surge in power, a fault, or a short circuit. These are the common interfaces with end users of electricity, but how does electricity get there in the first place?

Generation of Electricity

Your home is likely part of the electrical grid, an infrastructure system that supplies and distributes electrical power to local end users. The core of the grid is a system of generators that produces electricity. Most often, the generators consume fossil fuels to heat water into steam. Steam can be produced in numerous ways though. Natural gas can be burned, coal can be combusted, or nuclear reactions can be used to provide the heat energy needed to convert water to steam. Regardless of the source of heat, the produced steam moves a large turbine that rotates a massive magnet within a coil of wires. Through the physics of electromagnetism, the moving magnet causes current to flow through the wires. Electricity has been produced.

Transmission of Power

Once electricity has been produced by the generator, it must be transported to its end users in various homes and businesses. One power station typically provides electricity for many homes in a large area. So how does the power get transported?

Transmission lines are used to carry electricity over long distances to its end location. Due to resistance in the wires, electrical energy is lost in the form of heat. To mitigate these losses, the electricity is transmitted at very high voltages, often in excess of 100 kilovolts. The electricity generated in the power station is produced at low voltage, so the voltage must first be ramped up using a transformer. Once the voltage is dramatically increased, the electricity can be transported over long distances with minimal loss of energy. The voltage must again be transformed to a lower voltage before entering a home for use. You have likely seen transmission lines before as the large overhead wires strung between poles alongside the road. Some transmission lines are hidden from view though, as they are buried underground.

Electrical Distribution

After the power has been transformed from low to high voltage, transmitted over long distances, and transformed again from high to low voltage, the electricity is finally ready to enter your home. Distribution lines are the wires that connect from the terminal of the transmission line to your house. These networks are controlled, monitored, and metered by your power company.

Much of the electrical grid is hidden from view. Wires are often encased in walls or buried underground, and the power station is usually miles away. We depend heavily on electricity, using it constantly throughout the day with numerous appliances. With some knowledge of the intricacies of how power is produced and provided in our homes, hopefully we can better appreciate the energy we often simply take for granted.