07/09/2023

 

 

SHOCKING

 

 

Electricity is nice. It has become very popular, for that reason.

 

Ah, but nothing is black, or white. All things are some shade of gray; some mixture of positive, and negative elements. Electricity, when viewed as a way to transport power from point a to point b, certainly is no exception, to that rule! Far, far from it.

 

A diamond is, perhaps, the pinnacle, of physical beauty; so shiny; so sparkly, so mesmerizing. But when evaluated by how it came to be, that diamond becomes a tiny horror! (quasi) slave labor was used to dig it from the ground. Some of those people died, mining it. The rest were paid only enough food to last them for the remainder of the day...

 

And so we see a context is required, in order to evaluate anything. According to that context (or point of view) some things become good, ignored or bad. Today, our context is moving power, from point a to point b.

 

Today, I will 'flip our old friend electricity onto it's back.' Then we will take a look at it's underbelly; at the real deal; at the shocking inefficiency, of electricity. Today we will 'put a gallon of electricity in a tank,' transport the power in that tank to a destination, then see how much power arrives, on target.

 

AC electricity was invented to move power over long distances, where the resistance of the lines between the power station and the target becomes an issue. A transformer does not work with DC. Period. Only AC gives the ability to raise or lower the voltage, via a transformer. Without that ability there would be no power grid, and you would not be reading this.

 

In order to prevent unacceptable losses of power in the copper lines connecting power plants with distant consumers, the AC voltage in the long distance lines is increased - a lot. Less current flows because more voltage is used. Resulting in less losses in the lines.

 

The ability to change the voltage and current components of electric power is not free. Oh HO no! Not, at all. In terms of input and output, it is astonishingly expensive! A transformer consumes at least half of the power it converts!

 

The 'maximum power transfer theorem' states that maximum power transfer occurs when the impedance (overall resistance) of the load, equals the impedance of the source. The primary (driven, or input) winding of a transformer is the source. The secondary (driver, or output) winding is the load. And the very best that can be done is to split the overall (incoming) power in two - making half of it available at the secondary winding.

 

Is your head spinning? It should be. And we have just begun...

 

There are huge transformers at the power plant. They raise the voltage made in the dynamos (generators) so it can be moved far away, at the cost of half the power made. At a destination, that super-dangerous voltage must be brought back down to something usable - again, at the cost of half the power. The next stage uses local (on the pole) transformers to convert the distribution voltage (still very high) to what the consumer wants. In the case of a home that is 220 volts. 440, three-phase (for running motors) and a variety of other forms can be produced, as well.

 

Then, the last transformer is in your device. That's IMPORTANT, because it isolates your device (and you) from the scary amount of power in the mains. It also creates the proper voltage to power your device.

 

Supposing we began with 100 'units' of power. 50, 25, 12.5, 6.25, 3.125. So, out of a hundred units, cut in half five times, you get 3.125 units. The rest was dissipated, as heat, on it's way to you.

 

Are we done? We wish...

 

Motors and heating elements can use AC power. Your computer, your modern lighting (led - etc) nearly all the things you have can not use AC power. DC electricity is required.

 

AC is converted to DC via a circuit called a rectifier. Rectifiers do not run for free. Nothing does. Then, the DC electricity is often stored in a battery. (They don't make AC batteries. Period.) Batteries, like everything else, do not run for free. i.e. you don't get as much out, as you put it.

 

Lying by omission is cutting-edge, state of the art manipulation. You have been told what the GARKS want you to know, via the media they own. I just told you the rest.

 

Today, when you walk out and look at your electric car, maybe you will see what is real - that it not possible to use only 3.125 percent of the power made while burning less fuel and, therefore, making less pollution.