cryptocurrency

cryptocurrency graphicsThere’s a new industry you may have heard of that uses huge amounts of electricity – as much as all the refrigerators in the United States. And it may be coming to a town near you.

Cryptocurrency has been around less than 15 years, so if you’re not familiar with Bitcoin and other forms of digital currency, what you’re about to read will likely sound strange.

cables

Many of us are so connected to our phones, tablets and laptops we panic when the battery nears the dreaded 0% mark.

We want our device batteries to perform well for as long as possible. But taking care of them can conflict with why we have our electronics in the first place. The point isn’t to fret about battery life; it’s to read and send emails, scroll on social media, take photos and countless other pursuits.

didyouknow

We depend on electricity 24/7, but have you ever wondered how it’s made, or where it comes from?

To understand the basics of something so important to modern life, think about steam from a teakettle and those magnets stuck to your refrigerator door.

Magnetic metals in nature attract each other because parts of the atoms that make up the those metals want to match up with others. Those restless atomic particles are called electrons—and that’s where we get the word “electricity.”