SEAI - Energy at Home

Curriculum Link: 6.4 Resource Management and Home Studies

What is electricity?

Electricity is a form of energy. Electricity is a lot of electrons flowing in a current. We call this an electrical current. Electricity is very useful because it can be easily converted to other types of energy. Take for example, your television set – in this electrical appliance, electrical energy is converted into light energy and sound energy.

Where does electricity come from?

The power needed to produce electricity comes from many different sources e.g. coal, peat, wind and water. These sources are used to power turbines and generators. These turbines spin around to cause a build up of electrical charges in a generator which makes an electrical current flow.

Turbines are powered by renewable or non-renewable sources of energy. Non-renewable sources of energy are called fossil fuels and include coal, oil, gas and peat. They are burned to heat water for steam powered turbines. Burning fossil fuels releases gases which harm the environment.

Wind, hydro, solar and biomass are all sources of renewable energy. The blades in a wind turbine turn a generator to produce electricity. Renewable sources of energy are by far the better option but in 2009 renewables provided just 14% of the total installed electrical capacity and 2% of all energy required in Ireland. The rest, 86% of our electricity came from burning fossil fuels. Ireland's target is to have 20% of our electricity from renewables by 2020.

What do we mean by energy efficiency?
Energy efficiency means not wasting energy. It refers to appliances, buildings and even to human behaviour! If you are only making one cup of tea but you boil a full kettle of water, that’s not very efficient is it? Energy is wasted in heating more water than is needed. Appliances also waste electricity. They always take in more energy than gets put to good use. For example, a television converts electricity into light and sound energy, but some also gets converted into heat which is a waste. No energy conversion process is 100% efficient but the more efficient the process, the less energy is wasted.

What do we mean by energy efficiency?

Energy efficiency means not wasting energy. It refers to appliances, buildings and even to human behaviour! If you are only making one cup of tea but you boil a full kettle of water, that’s not very efficient is it? Energy is wasted in heating more water than is needed. Appliances also waste electricity. They always take in more energy than gets put to good use. For example, a television converts electricity into light and sound energy, but some also gets converted into heat which is a waste. No energy conversion process is 100% efficient but the more efficient the process, the less energy is wasted.

Activities

Links

www.esb.ie

Find out how much energy is used by common household items - from light bulbs to your TV. Estimate how much your home electrical appliances and lights cost to run with the appliance calculator.

www.bordgais.ie

Ireland’s National gas providers.

www.airtricity.ie

An Irish electricity company that supplies electricity generated from wind power.

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