Why do we use High Voltage for Long Distance Power Lines?

This is a demonstration of why we use high voltages for power transmission on longer power lines. First we look at the performance of 120V (low voltage) and then compare it to 10kV (high voltage).

For an excellent diagram of power transmission from generating station to the home look at Ottawa Hydro's website: https://static.hydroottawa.com/documents/publications/factbook/backgrounders/1-basic-facts-about-electricity.pdf

The photo of the Pickering Nuclear Power Plant is from "Jason Paris from Toronto, Canada, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons" https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Frenchman%27s_Bay_and_the_Pickering_Nuclear_Plant_-a.jpg