Power station
hideA power station (also referred to as a generating station, power plant, or powerhouse) is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power.
Power plant is also used to refer to the engine in ships, aircraft and other large vehicles. Some prefer to use the term energy center because it more accurately describes what the plants do, which is the conversion of other forms of energy, like chemical energy, gravitational potential energy or heat energy into electrical energy. However, power plant is the most common term in the U.S., while elsewhere power station and power plant are both widely used, power station prevailing in many Commonwealth countries and especially in the United Kingdom.
At the center of nearly all power stations is a generator, a rotating machine that converts mechanical energy into electrical energy by creating relative motion between a magnetic field and a conductor. The energy source harnessed to turn the generator varies widely. It depends chiefly on which fuels are easily available and on the types of technology that the power company has access to.
For more information about Power station, read the full article at
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This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with power plants
Mini Nuclear Power Plants Could Power 20,000 Homes (Update)
Nov 12, 2008 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Underground nuclear power plants no bigger than a hot tub may soon provide electricity for communities around the world. Measuring about 1.5 meters across, the mini reactors can each power ...
EPA finds greenhouse gases pose a danger to health
Apr 17, 2009 |
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(AP) -- The Environmental Protection Agency concluded Friday that greenhouse gases linked to climate change "endanger public health and welfare," setting the stage for regulating them under federal clean air laws.
How a Solar-Hydrogen Economy Could Supply the World's Energy Needs
Aug 24, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- As the world's oil supply continues to dry out every day, the question of what will replace oil and other fossil fuels is becoming more and more urgent. According to the World Coal Institute, ...
EarthTalk: Are hybrid cars really better for the environment?
Mar 30, 2009 |
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Dear EarthTalk: If you have an electric or plug-in hybrid car, you're paying for electricity rather than gasoline all or most of the time. How does that cost compare to a gas-powered car's cost-per-mile? And since the electricity ...
Home power plants project unveiled in Germany
Sep 09, 2009 |
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An ambitious project was unveiled in Germany on Wednesday to install mini gas-fired power plants in people's basements and produce as much electricity as two nuclear reactors within a year.
US energy use drops in 2008
Jul 20, 2009 |
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Americans used more solar, nuclear, biomass and wind energy in 2008 than they did in 2007, according to the most recent energy flow charts released by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The nation used less coal ...
Forests of Artificial Trees Could Slow Global Warming
Aug 28, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study on how technology could help to regulate climate change has studied hundreds of ideas, and selected three considered practical and able to be implemented quickly. The report's ...
Why leave it to nature? Chemistry professor wants to understand, simplify, photosynthesis
Sep 30, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Amid calls for transformative change in the world’s energy supply, Harvard chemist Ted Betley is taking a back-to-basics approach and examining the mother of all energy supplies -- photosynthesis ...
Intelligent use of the Earth's heat
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Feb 27, 2009 |
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Geothermal energy is increasingly contributing to the power supply world wide. Iceland is world-leader in expanding development of geothermal utilization: in recent years the annual power supply here doubled ...
US electricity grid hit by cyber attacks: report
Apr 08, 2009 |
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Chinese and Russian cyber-spies have hacked into the US electricity grid and inserted programs that could be used to disrupt the system, a report said Wednesday.
Double-action power stations: Energy and hydrogen
Apr 23, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Gas power plants could be cheaply retrofitted to generate hydrogen as well as power, chemists say in Green Chemistry, a Royal Society of Chemistry journal.
Researchers Work to Make Wood a New Energy Source
Mar 11, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Is wood the new coal? Researchers at North Carolina State University think so, and they are part of a team working to turn woodchips into a substitute for coal by using a process called torrefaction that ...
Scrubbing sulfur: New process removes sulfur components, CO2 from power plant emissions (w/ Video)
Aug 18, 2009 |
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The Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has developed a reusable organic liquid that can pull harmful gases such as carbon dioxide or sulfur dioxide out of industrial emissions from ...
EPA moves to regulate smokestack greenhouse gases
Oct 01, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Proposed regulations would require power plants, factories and refineries to reduce greenhouse gases by installing the best available technology and improving energy efficiency whenever a facility ...
Nuclear energy becomes pivotal in climate debate
Oct 25, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Nuclear energy, once vilified by environmentalists and facing a dim future, has become a pivotal bargaining chip as Senate Democrats hunt for Republican votes to pass climate legislation.
