Cooperative Living March 2022 - 21

CLOSER LOOK
The Inside Scoop on Electricity
There's a lot more involved than just flipping a switch
by Paul Wesslund, Contributing Columnist
E
lectricity turns dark into light,
makes hot foods cold and cold
foods hot, washes the dishes and
searches the internet. It is essential to our
everyday lives, so much so that we rarely
think about it. But behind the scenes,
interesting things are happening.
1 Electricity must be used
or stored after it's generated.
A rechargeable battery stores
electricity. But the kind of electricity
you use in your home needs to be used
ft er it's generated.
Electricity produced from power
plants, solar panels, wind turbines and
hydro dams in the U.S. needs to be timed
for when you decide to cook dinner,
wash clothes or watch TV. Th national
grid of generators, wires and substations
is an incredibly complex network that
makes electricity flow smoothly.
A coal or natural gas plant can ramp
generation up or down fairly quickly
to meet changing energy demand.
But solar energy and wind power
depend more on the whims of Mother
Nature, which adds an extra degree
of difficulty to power management.
However, technology advances could
be a gamechanger.
Large-scale battery storage
technology is rapidly improving,
allowing electric utilities to use big
batteries to balance the flow and
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timing of electricity. Wider use of large
utility-scale batteries could also make it
easier to store solar and wind energy,
then use it at night and during calm
weather.
2
Highways could charge electric
vehicles in the future.
If researchers have their way, electric
vehicles wouldn't need to plug in. They
could charge while they're being driven.
Wireless dynamic charging projects
are underway around the world. The idea
is similar to wireless chargers you can
buy for your home electronics, rather
than plugging in the smartphone or
other device.
Charging cars while they're driving
along the freeway is a lot more
ambitious. But some developers predict
that there could be stretches of vehiclecharging
lanes within five years, in
addition to high-occupancy-vehicle
lanes for rush-hour traffic.
Futurists expect electric trucks would
be the most likely users of wireless,
charging lanes. Most electric cars can
charge overnight in a residential garage.
Wireles,s dynamic truck charging could
inconvenient for energy consumers,
and always fatal for the squirrel. Bird
diverters are commonly seen on
overhead lines; squirrel diverters are
in development, too. 
Paul Wesslund writes on consumer
and cooperative affairs for the National
Rural Electric Cooperative Association.
March 2022 ● Cooperative Living ●
19
keep the deliveries rolling, rather than
having drivers sitting and drinking coffee
for the several hours it could take a
conventional plug-in to get trucks back
to full power.
3 Power out? Blame a squirrel.
While severe weather causes most
outages, if it's nice out and your
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Cooperative Living March 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Cooperative Living March 2022
