If electricity is a necessity, what would it be?
In the next section, we provide evidence about the nature of electricity as a necessity.
How long does electricity take to produce?
The production history for electricity is one of increasing supply and decreasing demand, with increasing supply leading to increasing demand resulting in increasing production.
Where do electricity come from?
Electricity is one of the most abundant energy sources on Earth, supplying approximately 1% of the world’s energy requirements, and about 99% of the global atmospheric CO 2 emissions.[24] This is primarily due to a small fraction of natural gas and hydrogen production[25].
Most forms of electricity are produced in fossil-fuel powered reactors. These are expensive, and require large amounts of energy to produce, and the fuel that makes them work—which is the oil in the reservoirs.
How much energy are we getting for our energy consumption?
We estimate that over the past 1 million years, the rate of increase in our use of energy has been constant, with constant growth in our demand for energy. Today, energy use in the US is estimated at about 1.6% of the total economy.[26]
For every 1000 lbs. of food harvested in the US, we use just over 300 lbs. of gasoline, and 1.2 tons of diesel fuel, for a total of 5.2 million tons per year.
In 2006, our annual petroleum consumption reached 923 million barrels, while our total fossil fuel consumption reached 6,300 billion barrels (Figure 5).
Figure 5 – Annual Petroleum, Diesel, and Natural Gas Consumption, United States, June 2006.[27]
How much energy can be stored via batteries?
Battery energy storage is the method which produces electrical power from either stored chemical energy or stored solar energy. For this reason, it is a very important component, one that is used by power plants for energy production.[28]
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Since the time of Newton, scientists have understood that electricity can be stored as both chemical and electrical energy.[29]
In fact, electricity can be stored as chemical energy stored as hydrogen gas.
But, chemical energy is not free: a power plant would have to pay for both hydrogen and the gasoline that gets used to produce it.[30] In order to meet the needs of its customers, the power plant must make a profit, so it will charge a customer more.[31]
But, there are