What happens when you come home everyday and turn on a light? Or when you charge your phone everyday? We all use power almost every minute of our life, as a community we demand huge amounts of power, but where does it come from? Well, there is a short answer and a long answer...
The short answer is "somewhere else that I don't need to care about". Thanks to how digital our modern world is, you just pay your bill and forget about it. Whilst ignorance is sometimes bliss its actually key you know how and where your power is being generated and whether there is much you can do about it. Often there isn't much you can do about it, but hopefully by reading on you will be able to make more informed decision over your electricity next time you use it.
The long answer is that your energy, provided that the national grid is your main source of energy, comes from a mixture of sources. If EDF is your electricity supplier, 86.3% of your energy comes from nuclear power, which is a non-renewable but non-carbon emitting source of energy. Only 8.5% of our national energy usage comes from truly renewable energy. This is because renewable energy is both expensive and location dependent; you can't put a hydroelectric plant where this no running water.
The reason why we depend on nuclear power is because of its extreme efficiency. It doesn't directly pollute either because it doesn't emit carbon unlike other fossil fuels; although it does produce radioactive waste.
This video explains a bit more about nuclear energy and how it works.
Full credit to Kurzgesagt - In a Nutshell
Our Local Power
Our main source of energy comes from two 178.5 metres concrete towers 90km away - in Golfech Nuclear Power Plant. It produces up to 20 billion kWh each year which is 4.75% of France's total energy production. It provides to not only Toulouse but the whole of the Midi-Pyrénées.
Nuclear power produces radioactive waste which is dumped underground or in our oceans, which is problematic as it take uranium waste 1000 year to fully decay. This is why countries like Germany has vowed to close all of its plants by 2022.
One of our closest hydroelectric plants is the Régie Municipale Electricité which is placed between l'île du Grand-Ramier and l'île d'Empalot in Toulouse.
The building was originally constructed in 1917 but is now used today a hydroplant. It uses 6 turbines to convert water flowing from the Garonne river into electricity. The municipal electricity board runs it and sells the electricity to EDF.
The problem with hydroelectricity is its very expensive to set up and this price tag is what puts everyone off.
How can I lower my non-renewable energy footprint?
To be honest, its a bit struggle. We all depend on electricity a lot and its not as if we can easily and affordable go off the grid. Whilst renewable energy for your house such as wind turbines, solar panels and solar heating is cheaper than its ever been, its still very expensive.
If you can install solar panels that would be great. After all its a good way to lower your electricity bill and save money in the long term. But there is also another way.
f we lower our energy consumption as a nation by using less appliances and more energy efficient appliances we will maintain a regular stable electricity demand. Our increasing demand of today means that EDF and companies a like are forced to invest in cheap efficient, environmentally damaging options like coal and nuclear. If we maintain or decrease our energy demand it will be easier for companies to begin to switch to renewable.
France has pledged to have 23% of its energy come from renewable sources by this year. But overall, including EDF and electricity created from domestic sources (solar panels on homes) the nation only uses renewables for 16.3% of its total consumption. Now, this figure was taken in 2017 but France has only increased by 0.5% each year since 2005, buts that not to say that this will change.
Don't be downbeat though! Change is happening: in the UK coal power is being used less and less and there have been days where renewable sources were used more than non-renewables. It happening there and its happening in other countries too; change is coming - just not fast enough.
But its through small changes and putting pressure on our government and electricity providers we can make fast change. It is up to us to ensure we put people in power that care about our environment and make realistic green plans to change to more long term renewable energy solutions.
Great article.
I looked at recent data suggesting that the one thing we can do that we make a big difference is to reduce or remove plane travel https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200218-climate-change-how-to-cut-your-carbon-emissions-when-flying.
Difficult to do when we like to do it so much. I continue to try to take trains but they are expensive, take a long time in some cases and can be unreliable.
Unfortunately, in terms of electrical energy, Fusion power is not just around the corner as some people might hope.