Electric energy is generated and used is AC because it offers much advantages then DC.

The few are listed below:-

1. AC can be generated at high voltages, but DC cannot be generated at high voltages because sparking starts at the commutator at high voltage, due to which commutator gets damaged. 2. High voltages AC generators are much simpler and cheaper than DC generators of the same range. It is because in AC generators there i no commutator which is costly part and is damaged. 3. Alternating current can be stepped up or stepped down with a static device called transformer. When voltages is stepped up current decreases to a small value. Small current produces less heat and can be transmitted through a thin conductor.Thus it is possible to transmit AC at high voltages. This reduces the size of conductor, transmission losses ans increases transmission efficiency. At the receiving station, voltages can be stepped down to the required value by using step down transformer. This is most important reason for generating and using electrical energy as AC. 4. A.C. induction motors are simplest in construction, cheaper in cot and require less maintenance whereas D.C. motors are complicated.

Advantages and disadvantages:

The advantages of AC over DC hinge on its high voltage transmission and frequency property (see corresponding diagrams). Since alternating current operated on such a low current, there was little power dissipation, even over exceptionally long distances with minimal energy dissipation (AC/DC: What's the Difference?). This was due to the fact that the electrons did not move very far and consequently did not generate a lot of heat due to friction of motion. Direct current however, "ran out of pressure [(effective power deliverance)] about half a mile from the power station" (Lomas 65). This limitation meant that direct current needed high gauge copper wire (expensive) and a power station effectively in one's back yard (inconvenient). It is these factors which ultimately limited direct current to the extremely rich and made technologies like the telephone and "the electro-magnetic telegraph an impractical scheme" (Mendenhall 607). Alternating current however, could transmit comparably small amounts of electricity over very large distances, hundreds of miles, and it could be "stepped up" or "stepped down" as needed for its end process effectively giving it a high current at the end rather than along its entire length (Lomas 66). It is these properties which allowed alternating current to extend the range of human interaction and influence to the limit. Power could be generated at remote locations and transmitted over long distances (like in the Pan-American Exposition of 1901 in Buffalo, New York), or generated in city centers and connected to the suburbs and neighboring cities, and states (Jonnes 123). Alternating current also extended the range of human interaction i.e. communication by extending the range of existing technologies such as the telegraph and the telephone across the United States and beyond. This meant that information known in one place could be quickly known across the entire country, effectively eliminating the connection between distance and time. Families no longer needed to be close to maintain

effective communication. People could spread out and yet remain more connected than ever before. This societal narrative would continue into the future with the advent of more advanced technologies, all relying on alternating current.

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AC electrical distribution systems can easily allow changes in voltage using transformers. This gives AC electrical distribution systems a great advantage compared to DC. By using transformers, AC power can be changed up to very high voltages for transmission and then changed down again to safer voltages for consumers to use, with comparatively very much less loss of power than DC. AC has less copper loss (more heating effect) than DC and it's easier and cheaper to produce too. <><><> The voltage of AC can be easily changed while it's difficult to do so in DC.

Other Factlets
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AC is usually used for transmission because DC cannot be run through a transformer. Edison's original system was DC. It required many power generating stations because the voltage couldn't be stepped up/down like AC. This is why Westinghouse's (Well, Tesla's IIRC. Westinghouse bought it.) AC system lasted in the long run. Sometimes high voltage DC is used for transmission, but it requires special equipment at both ends. Semiconductor electronics require low voltage DC so your electronic devices have power supplies that change the high voltage AC to low voltage DC. A battery used to store electricity can only store and deliver DC. This is why the basic electrical system used in vehicles is DC.

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The Advantages of AC Power Over DC Power

By Michael Duty, eHow Contributor

y Print this article Which is better, alternating current or direct current? Back in the 1880s, that question generated an all-out current war between two geniuses. On the one side, Thomas Edison pushed that direct

current was safer and would cause less hazard of electrocution. However, it proved to be cheaper and easier to transmit the power of alternating current over long distances. This was the stance of Edison's competitor, Nikola Tesla. Today, alternating current is used to distribute power to homes and businesses throughout the world. As the world searches for alternative energy sources, the lessons of the war of currents cannot be forgotten. Related Searches:
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AC Power Generator AC AC

1. More Power
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Probably the biggest advantage of AC over DC is that you can generate much more power from AC than DC. Alternating current is generated by large turbines. Direct current normally comes from batteries or sometimes from solar panels. Solar panels large enough to power entire cities would take huge amounts of land. Batteries use chemical reactions to produce electricity. Producing a huge battery would be expensive and impractical. Large turbines can be easily built and powered using steam, nuclear or hydraulic power.

Long Distance Transmission

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The ability to generate higher voltages with AC translates into the ability to transmit that power over longer distances. Alternating current is generated at power stations and transmitted through power lines to substations that can boost AC and keep it going farther distances.

Conversion
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In some operations, direct current may be preferred. However, it is easy to convert AC to DC by using simple transformers. It is much more difficult and costly to convert DC to AC.

Alternating Current in the Home

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One of the reasons that AC is better than DC in the home is that AC can be stepped up or down using transformers. On the other hand, when using DC, the power supply must match the load it powers. If you have a 120 volt lamp, then you need a 120 volt battery. If the battery is 240 volts, then the voltage can be reduced using a resistor, but, that would waste half the voltage.

Commercial Advantages
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Another advantage of the use of alternating current lies in manufacturing and other production facilities that drive the economy. Electric motors are used to drive conveyors and other equipment. The advantages of the AC motor are that they can yield a higher output of horsepower than DC motors and they are simpler in function than a DC motor. Also, transformers allow AC to be stepped up or down where it is needed to drive different sized motors.

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Advantages of HVDC over AC transmission

The advantage of HVDC is the ability to transmit large amounts of power over long distances with lower capital costs and with lower losses than AC. Depending on voltage level and construction details, losses are quoted as about 3% per 1,000 km.[14] High-voltage direct current transmission allows efficient use of energy sources, remote from load centers. In a number of applications HVDC is more effective than AC transmission. Examples include:  Undersea cables, where high capacitance causes additional AC losses. (e.g., 250 km Baltic Cable between Sweden and Germany,[15]the 600 km NorNed cable between Norway and the Netherlands, and 290 km Basslink between the Australian mainland and Tasmania[16]) Endpoint-to-endpoint long-haul bulk power transmission without intermediate 'taps', for example, in remote areas Increasing the capacity of an existing power grid in situations where additional wires are difficult or expensive to install Power transmission and stabilization between unsynchronised AC distribution systems Connecting a remote generating plant to the distribution grid, for example Nelson River Bipole Stabilizing a predominantly AC power-grid, without increasing prospective short circuit current Reducing line cost. HVDC needs fewer conductors as there is no need to support multiple phases. Also, thinner conductors can be used since HVDC does not suffer from the skin effect Facilitate power transmission between different countries that use AC at differing voltages and/or frequencies Synchronize AC produced by renewable energy sources

       

Long undersea / underground high voltage cables have a high electrical capacitance, since the conductors are surrounded by a relatively thin layer of insulation and a metal sheath while the extensive length of the cable multiplies the area between the conductors. The geometry is that of a long coaxial capacitor. Where alternating current is used for cable transmission, this capacitance appears in parallel with load. Additional current must flow in the cable to charge the cable capacitance, which generates additional losses in the conductors of the cable. Additionally, there is a dielectric loss component in the material of the cable insulation, which consumes power. However, when direct current is used, the cable capacitance is charged only when the cable is first energized or when the voltage is changed; there is no steady-state additional current required. For a long AC undersea cable, the entire current-carrying capacity of the conductor could be used to supply the charging current alone. The cable capacitance issue limits the length and power carrying capacity of AC cables. DC cables have no such limitation, and are essentially bound by only Ohm's Law. Although some DC leakage current continues to flow through the dielectric insulators, this is very small compared to the cable rating and much less than with AC transmission cables. HVDC can carry more power per conductor because, for a given power rating, the constant voltage in a DC line is the same as the peak voltage in an AC line. The power delivered in an AC system is defined by the root mean square (RMS) of an AC voltage, but RMS is only about 71% of the peak voltage. The peak voltage of AC determines the actual insulation thickness and conductor spacing. Because DC operates at a constant maximum voltage, this allows existing transmission line corridors with equally sized conductors

and insulation to carry more power into an area of high power consumption than AC, which can lower costs. Because HVDC allows power transmission between unsynchronized AC distribution systems, it can help increase system stability, by preventing cascading failures from propagating from one part of a wider power transmission grid to another. Changes in load that would cause portions of an AC network to become unsynchronized and separate would not similarly affect a DC link, and the power flow through the DC link would tend to stabilize the AC network. The magnitude and direction of power flow through a DC link can be directly commanded, and changed as needed to support the AC networks at either end of the DC link. This has caused many power system operators to contemplate wider use of HVDC technology for its stability benefits alone. [edit]Disadvantages The disadvantages of HVDC are in conversion, switching, control, availability and maintenance. HVDC is less reliable and has lower availability than alternating current (AC) systems, mainly due to the extra conversion equipment. Single-pole systems have availability of about 98.5%, with about a third of the downtime unscheduled due to faults. Fault-redundant dipole systems provide high availability for 50% of the link capacity, but availability of the full capacity is about 97% to 98%.[17] The required static inverters are expensive and have limited overload capacity. At smaller transmission distances, the losses in the static inverters may be bigger than in an AC transmission line. The cost of the inverters may not be offset by reductions in line construction cost and lower line loss. With two exceptions, all former mercury rectifiers worldwide have been dismantled or replaced by thyristor units. Pole 1 of the HVDC scheme between the North and South Islands of New Zealand still uses mercury arc rectifiers, as does Pole 1 of the Vancouver Island link in Canada. Both are currently being replaced in New Zealand by a new thyristor pole and in Canada by a three-phase AC link. Efficient designs use silicon-controlled rectifiers (SCRs) (the more common name for thyristors) fired in sequence at 60 Hz to produce a modified sine wave of AC, similar to the inverter circuitry in modern batteryoperated uninterruptible power supplies for computer and telecommunication use. In contrast to AC systems, realizing multiterminal systems is complex, as is expanding existing schemes to multiterminal systems. Controlling power flow in a multiterminal DC system requires good communication between all the terminals; power flow must be actively regulated by the inverter control system instead of the inherent impedance and phase angle properties of the transmission line.[18] Multiterminal lines are rare. One is in operation at the Hydro Qubec New England transmission from Radisson to Sandy Pond.[19] Another example is the Sardinia-mainland Italy link which was modified in 1989 to also provide power to the island of Corsica.[20] HVDC circuit breakers are difficult to build because some mechanism must be included in the circuit breaker to force current to zero, otherwise arcing and contact wear would be too great to allow reliable switching. Operating a HVDC scheme requires many spare parts to be kept, often exclusively for one system, as HVDC systems are less standardized than AC systems and technology changes faster.

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The only advantage I can think of off the top of my head would be a reduction of noise and a reduction of danger. DC will not interfere with wireless devices or create that annoying hum in sound devices and is far less lethal than AC current. Disadvantages: You will take a major loss in power when converting AC to DC, and a further hit to convert it back to AC. DC current also will not travel as far as AC current over long distances. Another answer 1. DC does not experience 'skin effect' that is inherent in AC (in AC, the current runs predominantly on the outside - or 'skin' - of the wire and not in the interior), meaning that for the same sized wire and same voltage, DC loses less energy per distance than AC does. 2. DC does not experience the electromagnetic inductance losses (or cause the electromagnetic interference) that AC power does since the voltage does not change over time. These losses can be minimized in AC by minimizing the frequency, but never completely eliminated. 3. Given the same high tension power line setup, and even disregarding skin effect, DC can be run at higher voltage due to having steady voltage instead of a peak voltage that is ~1.4 times higher than the RMS voltage, as is the case with AC. For example, 500,000VAC (RMS) actually has a peak value of over 700,000volts.

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The main advantage of a DC motor over an AC motor is that it can operate directly from from a battery. The speed of a DC motor can be controlled with a less complicated control unit that the unit required for an AC motor. Only the armature voltage needs to be controlled. With a small motor, that can be done by inserting a resistor in series. The speed control units that provide the best performance with AC motors are those that electronically control both the frequency and voltage supplied to the motor. They are called variable frequency drives (VFDs). AC motors with VFDs can match the performance, price and efficiency of DC motors with armature voltage control units. AC motors are more rugged and reliable, can operate at higher speeds and are available in larger power ratings. DC motors may be better for some very small precision motion control applications.