Power and energy are often used interchangeably; many people do not understand the difference or how it relates to electricity. UW-Platteville alumni Jamie Weber spoke Feb. 26 about the variation in these two words and explained the different sources of electricity currently available to us.

Weber, a 1995 graduate of UW-P, is currently working as a self-described power engineer, who fully understands the importance of electricity. He explained what electricity was and how energy and power relate to electricity.

During his presentation, he explained the difference in power and energy. Weber said that electricity does work; it lights our house, cooks our food and so much more. Energy is the measure of the work and power is the rate at which this work is done.

Graphic by Randy Batz

Windmills were one source described by Weber to produce electricity. The spinning motion of the turbine blades spins a shaft connected to a generator. This generator converts kinetic energy into electric energy that can be sent across the country through electric lines. Almost all sources of electricity use some type of spinning motion to convert kinetic energy into usable energy.

The next example given by Weber was if a wind farm produces 3,000 mega watts, the unit that measures power and a nuclear plant produces 1,000 mega watts, who produces more electricity?

Weber said that they are equal. A wind plant only operates at 30 percent efficiency, whereas a nuclear plant is 90 percent efficient; of 100 percent of the power made, only 30 percent of the power made at the wind farm and 90 percent made at the nuclear plant, are used at the end.

Hydro, wind, nuclear, renewable resources and fossil fuels are all currently fulfilling the U.S. electricity needs, but there is a need to push towards renewable resources or biofuels. Weber did briefly discuss these trends. The big push is corn ethanol, a great alternative for the constant burning fossil fuels. Weber shocked some audience members by telling them that it takes four gallons of gas to produce five gallons of corn ethanol.

“You have to think about the energy you use to make the energy you receive,” Kimberly Matthews, senior agricultural business major, said.

Weber agreed, some type of ethanol would be a fantastic alternative but corn ethanol may not be the most efficient way to go.

Statistics show over 48 percent of the electricity the U.S. uses is coal, while only two and a half percent of electricity used are in renewable resources.

The reason I did this is because I think it’s important for people to realize where you get a majority of you energy, Weber said. “And that’s fossil fuels.”

With the United States having a large supply of coal, it doesn’t seem this demand will fade any time soon.

“Our supply of coal is like Saudi Arabia’s supply of oil: you tell them to stop using oil and see how that goes,” Weber said. “The United States is just like that.”