Electric Power Facts
America – and much of the world -- is becoming increasingly electrified.
Today, more than half of the electricity generated in the United States comes
from coal. For the foreseeable future, coal will continue to be the dominant
fuel used for electric power production. The low cost and abundance of coal is
one of the primary reasons why consumers in the United States benefit from some
of the lowest electricity rates of any free-market economy.
The Department’s Office of Fossil Energy is working on ways to keep coal in
America’s electricity future. The key challenge is to remove the environmental
objections to the use of coal in tomorrow’s electric power plants. New
technologies being developed in the Fossil Energy program could virtually
eliminate the sulfur, nitrogen, and mercury pollutants released when coal is
burned. It may also be possible to capture greenhouse gases emitted from
coal-fired electric power plants and prevent them from contributing to global
warming concerns.
Research is also underway to increase the fuel efficiency of coal-fueled
electric power plants. Today’s plants convert only a third of coal’s energy
potential to electricity. New technologies in Energy’s Fossil Energy program
could nearly double efficiency levels in the next 10-15 years. Higher
efficiencies mean even more affordable electric power and fewer greenhouse
gases.
While coal is the nation’s major fuel for electric power, natural gas is the
fastest growing fuel. More than 90 percent of the electric power plants to be
built in the next 20 years will likely be fueled by natural gas. Natural gas is
also likely to be a primary fuel for distributed electric power generators –
mini-power plants that would be sited close to where the electricity is needed.
Energy’s Fossil Energy program is developing natural gas-powered fuel cells for
future distributed generation applications. Fuel cells use hydrogen that can be
extracted from natural gas or perhaps in the future from biomass or coal.
Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy sponsors R&D programs aimed at maintaining the
operating capability of the nation’s existing nuclear power plants and
developing the next generation of nuclear technologies. Nuclear energy is our
nation's largest source of emission-free electricity. The 103 U.S. nuclear units
supply about 20 percent of the electric power produced in the United States –
second only to coal as a fuel source. The Nuclear Energy program is working to
develop cost-efficient technologies that further enhance nuclear safety,
minimize the generation of nuclear waste, and further reduce the risk of
proliferation.
The United States’ electric power infrastructure is one of the greatest
engineering marvels of the 20th century. However, to meet the rising electric
power demand of the 21st century, significant improvements in America’s electric
power system are necessary. Blackouts serve as a powerful reminder of the
critical role electricity plays in the everyday lives of people. The mission of
the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability is to lead national
effort to modernize the electric grid, enhance security and reliability of the
energy infrastructure, and facilitate recovery from disruptions to the energy
supply.
In addition, the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability seeks to
develop new technologies for the storage of energy and the transmission of
energy that will contribute to energy efficiency of the electric power industry.
For instance, the copper wires used in typical transmission lines lose a
percentage of the electric power passing through them because of resistance,
which causes the wires to heat up. But "superconducting" materials have no
resistance, and if they are used to transmit electricity in the future, very
little of the electricity will be lost. http://www.energy.gov/energysources/electricpower.htm |
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