How Electricity Generation Really Works
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Published 2019-07-23
The importance of electricity in our modern world can hardly be overstated. What was a luxury a hundred years ago is now a critical component to the safety, prosperity, and well-being of nearly everyone. Generation is the first step electricity takes on its journey through the power grid, the gigantic machine that delivers energy to millions of people day in and day out. So how does it work?
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Writing/Editing/Production: Grady Hillhouse
This video is sponsored by Hello Fresh.
All Comments (21)
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There’s a lot more to the discussion here, so let me know into which topics you’d like to go deeper in future videos. Thanks for watching!
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As an electrical engineer, you literally explained what took my professors weeks (and they really didn’t) in 10 minutes, you’re amazing
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Despite my reservations about nuclear, I find it vexing that everyone seems to forget that nuclear doesn't emit co2.
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I hate the term renewable energy as it excludes nuclear energy from the start. Using conventional fuel sources nuclear can power us for centuries and with unconventional fuels like thorium or plutonium in fast spectrum reactors can powers us for thousands of years, and yet the fact that this nuclear fuel is not renewed by the big nuclear fuel in the sky somehow makes it undesirable,
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Thank you for these videos. I've always wondered how they store all the electricity and I'm really taken aback by the answer, "they don't". It really puts a lot of the issues with zero emissions electricity into perspective, and really makes me have respect for the people who make this infrastructure work so seamlessly.
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Electrical engineer here, and this topic has been my job for about 15 years now. Everything you said is brilliantly illustrated and on point. Kudos to you ! I'd happily replace "renewable" at the end by "durable", but that's a subject for another day :) Bravo again !
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It is rare to see a video that explains so many technical concepts in such a simple way without heavy bias or opinion mixed in. I'm super impressed, Grady!
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I found these videos extremely interesting while I was in high school. Now that I'm in college for engineering, it makes these videos even more interesting than they were before! Great work again!
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On the topic of sustainability and since many countries are experiencing water crisis, can you do one on desalination and/or reverse osmosis? And garbage, waste management, waste to energy, capturing carbon in the chimney. So fascinating
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"We can't hold it in our hand" Technically we can... it's letting go that's the problem.
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I have to say, your effort of presenting ads at the end of the video is great! Feels natural and not forced, great work!
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At 7:07 you reference spinning reserve as a generator that can connect to the grid at a moments notice, that is actually a reserve shutdown unit. Spinning reserve is what generation capability is left available for use on a generator that is currently producing, i.e a generator capable of producing 155MW that is only currently producing 100MW would have a spinning reserve of 55MW.
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You do a great job. Explaining things so easy a 6 year old can understand it. OUTSTANDING.
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My dad was talking to a engineer at a hydroelectric plant. He was told the hydroelectric plant is the easiest/efficient place to adjust grid following because of the static reserve of water. Others loose efficiency on warm up and cool down.
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I am pretty familiar with YouTube and educational material, and you are really outstanding in the field. Keep it up, Grady! Thank you.
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You actually managed to make the ad part fun to watch without overdoing it. Happy viewers make happy sponsors and allow us to watch your great content. WIN!
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Great video, perhaps explain why it is so difficult for power production to go back online once a major interruption occurs. For example the 2003 blackout, This is when that coordination between the grid operators is critical, also black-start capacity.
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As a mechanical engineer I always had trouble understanding electricity thank you for breaking down this complex topic into an easy way to learn!
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I can watch this channel for hours. So intriguing but the concepts are explained in a way that’s easily understandable
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Love it! I spent a few seasons around 2004 as a grid/engine operator at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, and this is a perfect explanation of our fairly simple system. No steam generation tho; just diesel engines powering turbines directly. At the time, the equipment was from the 60's and so syncing the frequencies to bring on a fresh engine meant eyeing a synchroscope and making sure your hand was steady! Thanks for another great video!
