Are we in any threat of running out of electricity?

Question

Are we in any threat of running out of electricity?

Answer 1

Running out of generating capacity, no.   Running out of electricity to your home, yes.   The more homes and businesses that go on the grid which in most cases hasn't been updated in decades, the more likely there will be brownouts.   Like a road, those lines can only carry so much power without causing big problems.

Answer 2

definitely not and if we do run out we will make it just like the ancient Egyptians did..

Answer 3

USA is not.  But China probably is.  Recent news articles have said that the chinese are having some difficulty supplying their power plants with coal.  And their demand for electricity is growing.

Answer 4

i hope not,my husband works for appalachian power (AEP)

Answer 5

In short, the answer is no.  Electricity is created, or generated, so there is not a finite amount of electricity that will someday be used up, as is the case with fossil fuels like oil or coal.  The more pressing question is the threat of running out of fuel used to generate electricity.

There is a finite, limited amount of fossil fuels, and they will eventually be used up and we will run out of them.  Oil, in particular, seems to be in danger of becoming scarce, but oil is not used extensively for electrical generation.  Even though coal will eventually be used up as well, if we have to use coal for electrical generation, we have enough coal for that purpose to last a fairly long time (estimates run from 200-400 years).  The problem with coal is that using it for electrical generation creates a lot of environmental problems, mainly greenhouse gases and other air pollutants.

Natural gas, which is another term for methane, is widely used for electrical generation, and while natural sources of methane may eventually run out, methane can be manufactured, and so we are not exclusively dependent on natural sources of methane.  Still, manufactured methane is currently too expensive to compete with natural methane, and it would be a very difficult task to create enough methane to generate all of the electricity we need.

Finally, electricity can be generated by nuclear power, and there is sufficent fuel to run enough nuclear reactors to supply all of our electrical power needs for many hundreds of years.  Again, there are environmental issues that would need to be resolved, but nuclear power is a viable long-term alternative for electrical power.

So, setting aside the environmental issues associated with coal and nuclear power, we have more than enough electrical generating capacity from those two sources for the foreseeable future.

Answer 6

As long as the forces of nature(like rain wind ect.) are still running, the answer is no. We are in no threat of running out of electricity. Good question.

Answer 7

no we have enough methods of electricity production, it is just the fossil fuels that will be stopped being used to create elecricity

Answer 8

If the Left has anything to do with it we will. They want to cut back on our total fossil fuel consumption. That would cripple this country. Look out for the wrath of the people.