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Electrification

 

 
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Electrification
 
 
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Electrification refers to the modification of a system so that it operates using electricity
Electricity

Electricity is a general term that encompasses a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena such as lightning and static electricity, but in addition, less familiar concepts such as the electromagnetic field and electromagnetic induction....
.

re specific usage of the word refers to the act or process of building the necessary infrastructure to supply electric power
Electric power

Electric power is defined as the rate at which electrical energy is transferred by an electric circuit. The SI unit of power is the watt .When electric current flows in a circuit, it can transfer energy to do mechanical work or work ....
 to homes and businesses, especially in rural and isolated areas. It also applies to the changeover of a railway from self contained steam locomotive
Steam locomotive

A steam locomotive is a locomotive powered by steam. The term usually refers to its use on railways, but can also refer to a "road locomotive" such as a traction engine or steamroller....
s, or in modern times diesel
Diesel

Diesel or diesel fuel in general is any fuel used in diesel engines. The most common is a specific fractional distillation of petroleum fuel oil, but alternatives that are not derived from petroleum, such as biodiesel, biomass to liquid or gas to liquid diesel, are increasingly being developed and adopted....
-powered locomotive
Locomotive

A locomotive is a Rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin language loco - "from a place", Ablative case of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine,....
s to electric locomotives.






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Electrification refers to the modification of a system so that it operates using electricity
Electricity

Electricity is a general term that encompasses a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena such as lightning and static electricity, but in addition, less familiar concepts such as the electromagnetic field and electromagnetic induction....
.

Electric grid

A more specific usage of the word refers to the act or process of building the necessary infrastructure to supply electric power
Electric power

Electric power is defined as the rate at which electrical energy is transferred by an electric circuit. The SI unit of power is the watt .When electric current flows in a circuit, it can transfer energy to do mechanical work or work ....
 to homes and businesses, especially in rural and isolated areas. It also applies to the changeover of a railway from self contained steam locomotive
Steam locomotive

A steam locomotive is a locomotive powered by steam. The term usually refers to its use on railways, but can also refer to a "road locomotive" such as a traction engine or steamroller....
s, or in modern times diesel
Diesel

Diesel or diesel fuel in general is any fuel used in diesel engines. The most common is a specific fractional distillation of petroleum fuel oil, but alternatives that are not derived from petroleum, such as biodiesel, biomass to liquid or gas to liquid diesel, are increasingly being developed and adopted....
-powered locomotive
Locomotive

A locomotive is a Rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin language loco - "from a place", Ablative case of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine,....
s to electric locomotives. The infrastructure required for electrification includes power plants, an electric power transmission
Electric power transmission

Electric power transmission is the bulk transfer of electrical power , a process in the delivery of electricity to consumers. A power transmission grid typically connects power plants to multiple Electrical substation near a populated area....
 grid, substation
Electrical substation

An electrical substation is a subsidiary station of an electricity Electrical generation, electric power transmission and electricity distribution system where voltage is transformed from high to low or the reverse using transformers....
s and shorter distribution lines to the end user.

Countries

One of the largest electrification projects was the GOELRO plan
GOELRO plan

GOELRO plan was the first-ever Soviet Union plan for national economic recovery and development. It became the prototype for subsequent Five-Year Plan s drafted by Gosplan....
, adopted in 1920 and fulfilled in 1931 in the USSR.

In the United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, widespread rural electrification
Rural electrification

Rural electrification is the process of bringing electric power to rural and remote areas. Electricity is used not only for lighting and household purposes, but it also allows for mechanization of many farming operations, such as threshing, milking, and hoisting grain for storage; in areas facing labor shortages, this allows for greater prod...
 began with the establishment of the Rural Electric Administration (REA) in 1935 and its associated local Rural Electric Cooperatives.

Electrification pioneers

  • Sidney McMath
  • Tennessee Valley Authority
    Tennessee Valley Authority

    The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, Flood, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly impacted by the Great Depression....


Electrification of transportation


Electrification of transportation is the use of hybrid electric
Hybrid electric vehicle

A hybrid electric vehicle is a hybrid vehicle which combines a conventional ground propulsion system with a rechargeable energy storage system to achieve better fuel economy in automobiles than a conventional vehicle....
 and all-electric vehicle
Electric vehicle

An electric vehicle is a vehicle with one or more electric motors for propulsion. This is also referred to as an electric drive vehicle....
s instead of all-petroleum
Petroleum

Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid found in rock formations in the Earth consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights, plus other organic compounds....
 vehicles.

Electrification, in a railway context, describes the process of converting a railway system from steam-
Steam locomotive

A steam locomotive is a locomotive powered by steam. The term usually refers to its use on railways, but can also refer to a "road locomotive" such as a traction engine or steamroller....
 or diesel-
Diesel locomotive

A Diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a Diesel engine. Several types of Diesel locomotive have been developed, the principal distinction being in the means by which the prime mover's mechanical power is conveyed to the driving wheels ....
powered propulsion, to electric traction
Electric locomotive

An electric locomotive is a locomotive powered by electricity from an external source. Sources include overhead lines, third rail, or an on-board electricity storage device such as a battery or flywheel energy storage system....
, and covers the modification of the infrastructure and the provision of suitable rolling stock
Rolling Stock

Rolling Stock was a newspaper of ideas and a chronicle of the 1980s published in Boulder, Colorado, Colorado by Ed Dorn and Jennifer Dunbar Dorn....
.

Energy Resilience

Electricity is:
  • the ‘stickiest’ form of energy: it stays in the continent where it is produced.
  • multi-sourced. If one source suffers a shortage, we can produce electricity from another, incluiding renewable sources.


As a result, it gives the greatest degree of energy resilience and the energy system is going to electrification .

See also

  • All energy from renewable sources
  • War of Currents
    War of Currents

    In the "War of Currents" era in the late 1880s, George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison became adversaries due to Edison's promotion of direct current for electric power distribution over alternating current advocated by Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla....
  • Pickens Plan
    Pickens Plan

    The Pickens Plan is an energy policy proposal announced July 8, 2008 by United States businessman T. Boone Pickens. Pickens intends to reduce American dependence on imported oil by investing approximately United States dollar1 trillion in new wind farm for power generation, which he believes would allow the Natural_gas#Power_generation curre...
  • Railway electrification system
    Railway electrification system

    A Railway electrification system supplies Electric potential energy to railway locomotives and multiple units so that they can operate without having an on-board Prime mover ....
  • Rural electrification
    Rural electrification

    Rural electrification is the process of bringing electric power to rural and remote areas. Electricity is used not only for lighting and household purposes, but it also allows for mechanization of many farming operations, such as threshing, milking, and hoisting grain for storage; in areas facing labor shortages, this allows for greater prod...
  • Steam
    Steam

    In physical chemistry, and in engineering, steam refers to vaporized water. It is a pure, completely invisible gaseous phase . At standard temperature and pressure, pure steam occupies about 1,600 times the volume of an equal mass of liquid water....