Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
technological change in smart grid development for the electricity sector, this review is
far from comprehensive and does not include all possible smart grid technologies, but we
do provide a general overview of the types of smart grid technologies that are emerging.
Throughout this chapter we also explain how specific technological components connect
with both the major promises of smart grid - including enhanced reliability and security,
economic gain, improved environmental quality, and empowered citizen engagement - and
its potential pitfalls, including decreased security, reduced privacy, and increased costs of
electricity.
3.2 Our Legacy Electricity Systems
While many of us do not know much about how our electricity systems work, we do know
that we need to regularly plug in our cell phones, computers, and other appliances, and
we need to pay our electricity bill. Often only during power outages are we reminded of
the largely invisible, complex, interconnected electricity system on which our lives have
become so reliant.
Here we refer to the currently dominant, conventional electricity infrastructure as the
“legacy” electric system. Our legacy electric systems are generally understood as a
sequence of centralized, unidirectional steps involving four basic elements:
(1) Generation - electric energy is generated in large-scale power plants;
(2) Transmission - high-voltage electricity is transported from the power plant to
substations closer to electricity consumers;
(3) Distribution - low-voltage electricity is distributed from substations to
households and commercial buildings;
(4) Use-electricity isusedbyconsumerdeviceslikerefrigerators,computers,lights,
and pumps and other residential, commercial, and industrial end-use devices in
homes, offices, and industries.
3.2.1 Generation in Legacy Systems
Energy is never actually “generated”; it is simply converted from one form to another.
Generation of electric energy involves the conversion of chemical, mechanical, thermal,
nuclear, or radiant (such as solar) energy into electric energy. The most common way to
generate electric energy involves converting the chemical energy stored in fossil fuels into
mechanical energy by turning a turbine to produce electric energy. In our legacy energy
systems, the dominant mechanism relies on heat produced either from burning fossil fuels,
splitting atoms in nuclear power, or hydropower directly driving turbines. Except for solar
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