What is the Source of Powa for Your Device?

[CavLancer]

For instance, this desktop comp is running off of electricity produced on the island of Samar where the geothermal plants produce energy that emanates from Earth mother's hot core. Yeah baby. Carbon? What's t h a t?

<--- Powered by the Earth, and lovin it.

So, where does your power come from? Coal? Oil? Lets hear it. Fess up. Share you tale of woe. Admit your never ending fount of g u i l t. ...and become one with it.

Okay, enough of that. Where does the electric come from that's running the device that you used to log on to CFC today?

Cav...Geothermal.

 

[Cutlass]

In this state about half the total power production is nuclear. We have 2 remaining reactors. 1 got old enough to dismantle, and the other had an 'incident' decades ago and was never repaired. The rest of the electricity comes from a variety of sources, including gas fired co-generation, trash burning, hydro wired all the way from northern Quebec, and a bit of coal still in the mix. Electric production was deregulated 20 odd years ago.

For this we have the most expensive electricity in the lower 48.

 

[Darkflight]

My PC is powered by hydroelectricity like pretty much everything else that uses electricity in Norway.

 

[Evie]

As is my PC, like pretty much everything that uses electricity in Québec. The electricity likely comes from the mega-dams of the Côte-Nord or Baie-James regions, but there are others so it's impossible to say for sure.

So powered by water, I suppose.

 

[Ajidica]

Nuclear, I think. Although during peak times it is supplemented by oil/natural gas.
EDIT: Just took a look at the power company website. I probably get my power from hydro or coal. The two remaining nuclear plants in Minnesota are a bit too far away. Plus hydro makes sense considering I live less than 20 minutes away from the Mississippi River.

 

[Arwon]

By the looks of it Samar is connected to a broader grid across the Visayas region and as such electricity consumption there is derived about half from coal and half from geothermal as indicated for the Visayas Trefin by the EIA.

A single grid is if course a single circuit so the specific source within that grid can't be pinpointed - it's the average of the fuel sources connected anywhere in the system. Only if there's specific tied purchase agreements can it really be said a particular power source within the system is supplying someone.

-----

In the Australian Capital Territory it's quite a different situation physically vs financially.

The grid is physically indistinguishable from the NSW grid which is about 90% black coal generation. So all things being equal our power is heavily coal based and super carbon intensive (though not as bad as Melbourne).

However the Territory govt has taken on first a 90% for 2020 and now a 100% for 2025 target for renewable generation. Which means the local govt-owned power company is going to be paying for renewable electricity generation to match 90% then 100% what it sells (rather than the 20% target nationally for 2020).

That'll be power generation built inside the Territory and over the border in NSW. A lot of wind.

So in terms of purchases, by virtue of what my Territory government has power companies do, an ever-increasing share of my electricity will be largescale wind and solar purposes plus a few other things.

In the year ending June 2015 it was 20% renewables purchases here. It looks like it should be 30% to June 30 year and 60% by June 2017 according to the projections by the company.

 

[Snerk]

My laptop is powered by sarcasm.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Nuclear, I think. Although during peak times it is supplemented by oil/natural gas.
EDIT: Just took a look at the power company website. I probably get my power from hydro or coal. The two remaining nuclear plants in Minnesota are a bit too far away. Plus hydro makes sense considering I live less than 20 minutes away from the Mississippi River.

The Mississippi isn't dammed for electricity that I know of. It is not inclined steep enough to have enough speed to be worth the effort.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I got the powa!

The Mississippi isn't dammed for electricity that I know of. It is not inclined steep enough to have enough speed to be worth the effort.

Bulb turbines baby, bulb turbines.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Since you're here, where do we get our power from in LA?

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Since you're here, where do we get our power from in LA?

Hoover Dam, plus an endless array of oil, gas turbine, hydroelectric and coal fired plants scattered from here to Washington state to the north and Texas to the east. Throw in some solar sprouting out here in the desert and the largest collection of wind turbines (last time I checked) in the world up around Tehachapi to Gorman.

If you want to take a field trip someday the wind turbine ranches are pretty interesting. Let me know.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Some CANDU reactors on the shores of Lake Ontario. Powers my home laptop, work PC, and recharges my tablet.

 

[trader/warrior]

My PC is powered by hydroelectricity like pretty much everything else that uses electricity in Norway.

Technically nearly half the power bought by the consumer in norway is so-called "European Attribute Mix" which is about 90% fossil and nuclear. Though Norway effectively produces more than enough to supply itself (edit: I should say, only really when conditions have been good for the hydro, Norway fluctuates a lot between being a net exporter and importer of power.), and in fact all the electricity in your outlet likely comes from domestic sources, the "rights" to the green origin sources are somehow traded to other countries in europe I believe.

Spoiler :

 

[Bootstoots]

Illinois is about half nuclear and half coal+gas (mostly coal), with a few percent of wind thrown in.

 

[Kyriakos]

Fight the Powa..

Here most is lignitic energy, apparently. Also imported gas.

 

[Birdjaguar]

PNM (our state electric monopoly) has treadmills under the sand along the border and the steady flow of illegals and drug mules keep energizing the grid 24/7. When that energy is insufficient, we turn on the secret fusion reactors taken from the captured alien spacecraft in Roswell. Then in a pinch, during hot summer days, we turn to solar, coal and natural gas in an indeterminate mix.

 

[cardgame]

Almost entirely coal, based on my location, though the grid in general has a little bit of natural gas as well, and possibly a little hydro too.

Nuclear plants are under construction/planning but fukushima fuku'd the whole operation and caused lots of red tape delays.

 

[Hygro]

thought this was gonna be about our bodies, ambitions, health, focus etc

 

[Bootstoots]

thought this was gonna be about our bodies, ambitions, health, focus etc

I guess you could read "device" as meaning "body". In that case, my device is 100% biomass-powered, although fossil fuels are used to help make a lot of that biomass.

 

[Ajidica]

The Mississippi isn't dammed for electricity that I know of. It is not inclined steep enough to have enough speed to be worth the effort.

There is an older hydro plant in St Paul near Saint Anthony Falls.
https://www.xcelenergy.com/Energy_Portfolio/Electricity/Hennepin_Island_Hydro_Generating_Station
After looking at the numbers again, it turns out I missed the decimal point. The hydro plant only generates 13.9 megawatts, not 139 as I initially read it. So I probably get electricity from coal, oil, or nuclear.