Energy Makes Things Happen

Fact: Nearly everything we do in modern society is made possible by energy. Without electricity, we'd have no computers or TVs, no air conditioning or even refrigerators. Transportation fuels help us drive around town or travel to other parts of the world.

Fact: Various forms of energy power our schools, businesses, hospitals, and factories. One of our Nation's most important sources of energy is nuclear power, which gives us approximately 20 percent of the electricity we use.

Electricity, the Most Recognizable Energy

Fact: Electricity is produced by converting a primary source of energy into electricity. In the United States, the primary sources of energy are fossil fuel (coal, oil, or natural gas), uranium, or water. Other sources of energy are wind, solar, biomass, or geothermal.

Fact: Most power plants produce electricity by heating water to create steam, which then passes over and turns huge turbine blades that move a shaft that turns a generator. The spinning motion produces a flow of electrons. Electricity is simply a flow of electrons.

Fact: Electricity produced by a generator is transmitted from the power plant through a complex system of wires, known as the “grid,” to places such as homes, schools, hospitals, farms, and factories. Unlike a source substance like natural gas, which can be stored for use whenever it is needed, electricity must be used as the current flows; otherwise its power is lost as the electrons slow down.

Fact: Power plants and the wires that transmit the electricity are owned by electric power companies that sell their product to consumers. Power companies build the plants, buy the energy source, install wires on towers or bury them underground, and maintain the grid system. To avoid wasteful duplication of power plants and transmission lines in an area, public utilities commissions assign specific service areas to power companies so that no more than one company serves an area.

The Growing Need for Energy

Fact: Today the United States uses more than twice as much energy as it needed in 1960, according to government figures; by 2030, it will need about 16 percent more energy to power its growing economy.

Fact: Industry and manufacturing uses about one-third of our Nation's total energy. Transportation accounts for just over one-fourth, and the rest-about 40 percent of our energy-is used to power buildings such as houses, schools, offices, restaurants, and hospitals.

Fact: The United States is a highly developed and industrialized society. Because of our computers and electronics, comfortable living conditions, and widespread access to vehicles, the average American consumes six times more energy than the world average.

Fact: The amount of electricity we use is expected to grow about 1.1 percent each year between now and 2030. Nuclear generation will also increase over the same period to help meet this need.

How Nuclear Fits

Fact: Nuclear power plants use nuclear fission to produce electricity. In nuclear fission, atoms are split apart to form smaller atoms, releasing energy.

Fact: The fuel most widely used by nuclear plants for nuclear fission is uranium. Although it is nonrenewable, it is a common metal found in rocks all over the world.

Fact: The amount of electricity generated by nuclear power each year is equal to as much electricity used in California, Texas and New York, the three most populous U.S. states.

Fact: Nuclear power plants have a positive effect on the air we breathe by not producing pollution or greenhouse gases. Of all the “clean” energies, nuclear accounts for 70 percent of the electricity produced without emitting carbon dioxide (CO2) or other greenhouse gases.

To learn more, visit the Energy Information Administration's Energy Kid's Page