02 Sep, 2021
Electricity is a big part of our lives. It affects everything we do and even the way we live our lives. Without electricity, our society would be nothing like it currently is today. In order to get a good understanding about how important electricity is to our everyday lives, let's consider how life would be if there was no electricity at all. For the purpose of this article, assuming that all sources of energy have been depleted on Earth and only renewable resources are available in order to produce electricity, let's say that humanity has adapted itself accordingly and has no modern technology at its disposal anymore except for basic tools such as axes and knives which can be powered by manual labour alone. All necessary machines will not work without needing some form of energy that can't be produced by human strength alone. Let's consider that the technological revolution has become a thing of the past and there are no electronic devices, electric equipment or any sort of machinery running on electricity anymore including cars, phones, lights or anything like that. People would now have to rely on basic tools for day-to-day use and getting around (e.g. horse drawn carriages). Farming is done by manual labour as well; nothing works without electricity anymore which means people don't go shopping for food at supermarkets because there isn't one nearby anymore since it requires too much energy to keep running all day long every day for years! There is no central heating in buildings either so people will need to burn wood in order to keep warm and cook food. Needless to say, life will be very uncomfortable without electricity since nowadays we rely heavily on technology and it's ubiquitous. In addition, people wouldn't have access to clean drinking water unless they find a clean lake or river nearby where they could gather some fresh water by hand every day which might pose another set of problems on its own if said lakes or rivers are too far away from where people live and they need to walk long distance in order to get back home. Not only that, it would be very hard for people to network and interact with other communities who could help them out if they run into difficulties because of the lack of technology being available to them. It's much easier for us today since we have access to the internet from our computers or phones which makes it possible for us to reach out and contact people all over the world in a matter of seconds! In addition, a lot of problems faced by modern society such as robberies, theft, gang wars etc., would not be going on if electricity did not exist since there isn't anything worth stealing without any electrical equipment that is capable being powered up. In fact, things such as currency would not exist since there wouldn't be a need for them anymore. A barter system would most likely take its place, with people trading the things they have in order to get other things that they might need. Let's now focus on electricity production and how it works, before going into a more detailed discussion about why it is so important from an economic perspective. We all know how solar panels work by converting light from the sun into electrical energy thanks to semiconductors inside each panel which are used to generate an electric field where the electrons move from negative to positive as they absorb light particles called photons which make them excited, hence producing electricity. But what actually makes this possible? What are these semiconductors and what is an electric field? A semiconductor, in this case made out of silicon, is a material that can be doped with other types of atoms such as boron or phosphorus in order to either increase its conductivity (making it a P-type semiconductor) or decrease it (making it an N-type semiconductor), allowing the flow of electrons through the material when enough voltage is applied across its terminals. As a result of being negatively charged, electrons will move from negative to positive across the external circuit where they are used for something. In a solar cell, photons from the sun hit the P-N junction inside which causes some electrons to get knocked loose from their atoms thus leaving positively charged holes behind, which in turn causes some nearby electrons to get attracted by the positive charge of these holes thus moving towards it. Once there, they will meet up with other electrons that are free floating around inside the semiconductor material but are not attached to any atom, this is how an electric field is formed allowing electrons to flow through it when a voltage is applied across two terminals of the solar cell. As for electricity production in general, it's actually very simple indeed. All you need is a generator which can be run either by coal or natural gas (fossil fuels) or water (hydroelectricity), both of which provide potential energy due to gravity and heat energy since each element has its own boiling point temperature at which it changes state. Once this is done, you will get electricity out of the generator which essentially uses electromagnetic induction to create an electric current flow through a wire (coil) placed inside the magnetic field created by its permanent magnets. The turbine attached to the generator spins whenever water or steam flows through it causing some blades at the top of the turbine to spin as well thus providing rotational mechanical energy through its shaft which can be used for something else such as powering up an electric motor that turns our generator in this case. From what has just been said, we see that electrical energy production can come from many sources and yet there are still problems with how electricity is distributed nowadays! Most people today think that electricity costs money when it is actually a service that we pay for, not the electricity itself! What I mean by this is that you have to pay for the fact that someone came and visited your house to install an electrical line from where you live all the way to your home. The actual production of electricity at power plants into usable energy such as KW/h or kWh (kilowatt-hour or kilowatt per hour) costs much less than what you might think it does. But why is it so important from an economic perspective? Electricity makes people's lives easier since without it, most things would require a lot more time and effort in order for them to be done properly. It also helps facilitate many daily activities throughout even developed countries such as heating, cooling and lighting wherever it is needed. This in turn means more productivity which in the long term makes future generations richer than us since they will be able to accomplish even more with what we were not able to do because of disorganized electrical grids, lack of proper education for people who would want to make a career out of engineering or simply due to a lack thereof. The bottom line is that if our world did not have electricity, I'm sure you'll agree that things would be much different from how they are today! Hopefully after reading this article you will realize the true importance of electrical systems, and when it comes to understanding what energy is all about and why electricity actually matters. As always, don't hesitate to get in touch with us if you have any questions about electrical services, what we do or how we can be of service for all of your electrical needs!