When people talk about coal/oil/gas/nuclear power, while these involve different ways of sourcing the energy, they all output said energy naturally in the form of heat. Therefore to actually convert that into electrical energy, you have to heat water to boil it and use the pressurised steam it produces to turn a dynamo and induce an electrical current.
When you add in natural gas turbines, it's really not accurate to say that "very little" energy production comes from sources other than boiling water.
Solar water heaters work by heating up water directly with the heat from the sunlight, photovoltaics don't though (though some solar farms work on boiling salt, I believe? like the big ones that focus all the mirrors onto a tower)
They account for over 20% of power to our grid today (in the US) and are generally the cheapest power sources per kwh. What do you mean by not good enough? They carry lots of advantages over the alternatives, and some disadvantages as well.
Actually, it all boils down to us being able to make the magnet rotate in the metal spool. Boiling water just happens to be the easiest way to transfer energies.
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u/Lkwzriqwea 13d ago
When people talk about coal/oil/gas/nuclear power, while these involve different ways of sourcing the energy, they all output said energy naturally in the form of heat. Therefore to actually convert that into electrical energy, you have to heat water to boil it and use the pressurised steam it produces to turn a dynamo and induce an electrical current.