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Monday, November 18, 2013

HYDROGEN

Hydrogen and Future Energy Sources
Picture of DaimlerChrysler Necar 4 - 1999
We learned in Chapter 8 that fossil fuels were formed before and during the time of the dinosaurs – when plants and animals died. Their decomposed remains gradually changed over the years to form coal, oil and natural gas. Fossil fuels took millions of years to make. We are using up the fuels formed more than 65 million years ago. They can't be renewed; they can't be made again. We can save fossil fuels by conserving and finding ways to harness energy from seemingly "endless sources," like the sun and the wind.
We can't use fossil fuels forever as they are a non-renewable and finite resource. Some people suggest that we should start using hydrogen.
Hydrogen is a colorless, odorless gas that accounts for 75 percent of the entire universe's mass. Hydrogen is found on Earth only in combination with other elements such as oxygen, carbon and nitrogen. To use hydrogen, it must be separated from these other elements.
Today, hydrogen is used primarily in ammonia manufacturing, petroleum refining and synthesis of methanol. It's also used in NASA's space program as fuel for the space shuttles, and in fuel cells that provide heat, electricity and drinking water for astronauts. Fuel cells are devices that directly convert hydrogen into electricity. In the future, hydrogen could be used to fuel vehicles (such as the DaimlerChrysler NeCar 4 shown in the picture to the right) and aircraft, and provide power for our homes and offices.
Hydrogen can be made from molecules called hydrocarbons by applying heat, a process known as "reforming" hydrogen. This process makes hydrogen from natural gas. An electrical current can also be used to separate water into its components of oxygen and hydrogen in a process called electrolysis. Some algae and bacteria, using sunlight as their energy source, give off hydrogen under certain conditions.
Hydrogen as a fuel is high in energy, yet a machine that burns pure hydrogen produces almost zero pollution. NASA has used liquid hydrogen since the 1970s to propel rockets and now the space shuttle into orbit. Hydrogen fuel cells power the shuttle's electrical systems, producing a clean by-product – pure water, which the crew drinks.
You can think of a fuel cell as a battery that is constantly replenished by adding fuel to it – it never loses its charge.
 Fuel Cell Uses
 Solar Power Satellites
 Other Ideas
Next – Conclusion
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SAVING ENERGY

Saving Energy and Energy Conservation
7144273 Some of the energy we can use is called renewable energy. These include solar, wind, geothermal and hydro. These types of energy are constantly being renewed or restored.
But many of the other forms of energy we use in our homes and cars are not being replenished. Fossil fuels took millions of years to create. They cannot be made over night.
And there are finite or limited amounts of these non-renewable energy sources. That means they cannot be renewed or replenished. Once they are gone they cannot be used again. So, we must all do our part in saving as much energy as we can.
In your home, you can save energy by turning off appliances, TVs and radios that are not being used, watched or listened to.
You can turn off lights when no one is in the room.
By putting insulation in walls and attics, we can reduce the amount of energy it takes to heat or cool our homes.
Insulating a home is like putting on a sweater or jacket when we're cold... instead of turning up the heat.
The outer layers trap the heat inside, keeping it nice and warm.
New space-age materials are being developed that insulate even better. This person's fingers are protected by Aerogel Insulation Material created by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The person cannot even feel the flame!
 Recycling
Learn about Hydrogen and Future Energy in the next chapter.
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Energy for TransportatioN

Energy for Transportation
traffic- 1666062 In California, about one-half of ALL the energy we use goes into transportation – cars, planes, trucks, motorcycles, trains, buses. And of all the oil we use in the state about three-quarters of all it goes into making gasoline and diesel fuel for vehicles.
As we learned in Chapter 8, oil goes through a refinery where it is made into many different products. Some of them are used for transportation: aviation fuel, gasoline and diesel fuel. From the refinery and larger storage tank farms, transportation fuels are usually trucked to service stations in tanker trucks. These trucks can hold 10,000 gallons in each tank. The tanker trucks deliver the gasoline to the services stations.
At service stations, the two grades of gasoline, regular and premium, are kept in separate underground storage tanks. When you pump the gasoline into your car, you are pumping it from those tanks below ground. Mid-grade gasoline is a combination of the two types. Other vehicles, such as trucks and some cars use diesel fuel, which is also made from oil. It is brought to service stations the same way.
California has more than 26 million vehicles on its roads. All the vehicles in the state used 14.4 billion gallons of gasoline in 2001. That's more gasoline that all other countries except for the United States and the former Soviet Union. This makes California the third-largest user of gasoline in the world!
gas truck- 9000485 Fourteen billion gallons of gasoline is enough to fill a line of 10,000 gallon tanker trucks stretched bumper to bumper from San Francisco to San Diego, back to San Francisco, and then part of the way to Sacramento!
Burning gasoline, however, creates air pollution. That's why oil companies are creating newer types of gasoline that are cleaner than the kind we use today. Beginning in 1996, all the gasoline sold in California will be this newer, cleaner type called "reformulated gasoline." The main ingredient in that gas, however, MTBE was found to hurt water supplies if it leaked. So, that additive is being removed by 2005.
Another concern about using oil for transportation is that a lot of oil used comes form the Middle East. This makes the U.S. very vulnerable if there is political unrest. During the 1970s, Americans saw long lines at the gas pumps because oil from the Middle East was turned off by the Oil Producing Exposting Countries - OPEC. And we're in in worse shape in 2002 because we're importing more and more oil form the Middle East than ever before.
Because of concerns about air pollution and petroleum-dependence, new clean-burning fuels made from fuels other than oil are being introduced. These fuels include methanol, ethanol, natural gas, propane and even electricity. The car on the right uses methanol, the same fuel used in Indianapolis Speedway race cars.
All these fuels are called alternative fuels because they are an alternative to gasoline and diesel. Cars and trucks that use them are called Alternative Fuel Vehicles or AFVs.
Right now, there are only a small number of cars and trucks that are running on fuels other than gasoline and diesel. Energy officials hope, however, that one-quarter of all the vehicles will run on alternative fuels by the year 2025.
For more on alternative fuel vehicles, we have a whole section on Energy Quest. Go to our Transportation Section.
Chapter 19 will talk about Saving Energy and Energy Efficiency.
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RENEWABLE ENERGY

Renewable Energy vs. Fossil Fuels
In Chapter 8, we discussed the world's supply of fossil fuels — oil, coal and natural gas and how it is being depleted slowly because of constant use. Fossil fuels are not renewable, they can't be made again. Once they are gone, they're gone.
In Chapters 11 to 16, we learned that there's no shortage of renewable energy from the sun, wind and water and even stuff usually thought of as garbage — dead trees, tree branches, yard clippings, left-over crops, sawdust, even livestock manure, can produce electricity and fuels — resources collectively called "biomass."
The sunlight falling on the United States in one day contains more than twice the energy we consume in an entire year. California has enough wind gusts to produce 11 percent of the world's wind electricity. Clean energy sources can be harnessed to produce electricity, process heat, fuel and valuable chemicals with less impact on the environment.
In contrast, emissions from cars fueled by gasoline and factories and other facilities that burn oil affect the atmosphere. Foul air results in so-called greenhouse gases. About -81% of all U.S. greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide emissions from energy-related sources.
Renewable energy resource development will result in new jobs for people and less oil we have to buy from foreign countries. According to the federal government, America spent $109 billion to import oil in 2000. If we fully develop self-renewing resources, we will keep the money at home to help the economy.
Continued research has made renewable energy more affordable today than 25 years ago. The cost of wind energy has declined from 40 cents per kilowatt-hour to less than 5 cents. The cost of electricity from the sun, through photovoltaics (literally meaning "light-electricity") has dropped from more than $1/kilowatt-hour in 1980 to nearly 20cents/kilowatt-hour today. And ethanol fuel costs have plummeted from $4 per gallon in the early 1980s to $1.20 today.
But there are also drawbacks to renewable energy development.
For example, solar thermal energy involving the collection of solar rays through collectors (often times huge mirrors) need large tracts of land as a collection site. This impacts the natural habitat, meaning the plants and animals that live there. The environment is also impacted when the buildings, roads, transmission lines and transformers are built. The fluid most often used with solar thermal electric generation is very toxic and spills can happen.
Solar or PV cells use the same technologies as the production of silicon chips for computers. The manufacturing process uses toxic chemicals. Toxic chemicals are also used in making batteries to store solar electricity through the night and on cloudy days.. Manufacturing this equipment has environmental impacts.
Also, even if we wanted to switch to solar energy right away, we still have a big problem. All the solar production facilities in the entire world only make enough solar cells to produce about 350 megawatts, about enough for a city of 300,000 people. that's a drop in the bucket compared to our needs. California alone needs about 55,000 megawatts of electricity on a sunny, hot summer day. And the cost of producing that much electricity would be about four times more expensive than a regular natural gas-fired power plant.
So, even though the renewable power plant doesn't release air pollution or use precious fossil fuels, it still has an impact on the environment.
Wind power development too, has its downside, mostly involving land use. The average wind farm requires 17 acres of land to produce one megawatt of electricity, about enough electricity for 750 to 1,000 homes. However, farms and cattle grazing can use the same land under the wind turbines.
Wind farms could cause erosion in desert areas. Most often, winds farms affect the natural view because they tend to be located on or just below ridgelines. Bird deaths also occur due to collisions with wind turbines and associated wires. This issue is the subject of on-going research.
Producing geothermal electricity from the earth's crust tends to be localized. That means facilities have to be built where geothermal energy is abundant. There are several geothermal resource locations in California. The Geysers area north of San Francisco is an example. In the course of geothermal production, steam coming from the ground becomes very caustic at times, causing pipes to corrode and fall apart. Geothermal power plants sometimes cost a little bit more than a gas-fired power plant because they have to include the cost to drill.
Environmental concerns are associated with dams to produce hydroelectric power. People are displaced and prime farmland and forests are lost in the flooded areas above dams. Downstream, dams change the chemical, physical and biological characteristics of the river and land.
Unlike fossil fuels, which dirties the atmosphere, renewable energy has less impact on the environment Renewable energy production has some drawbacks, mainly associated with t
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WIND ENERGY

Wind Energy
Wind Mill Wind can be used to do work. The kinetic energy of the wind can be changed into other forms of energy, either mechanical energy or electrical energy.
When a boat lifts a sail, it is using wind energy to push it through the water. This is one form of work.
Farmers have been using wind energy for many years to pump water from wells using windmills like the one on the right.
In Holland, windmills have been used for centuries to pump water from low-lying areas.
Wind is also used to turn large grinding stones to grind wheat or corn, just like a water wheel is turned by water power.
Today, the wind is also used to make electricity.
schematic of wind turbine Blowing wind spins the blades on a wind turbine – just like a large toy pinwheel. This device is called a wind turbine and not a windmill. A windmill grinds or mills grain, or is used to pump water.
The blades of the turbine are attached to a hub that is mounted on a turning shaft. The shaft goes through a gear transmission box where the turning speed is increased. The transmission is attached to a high speed shaft which turns a generator that makes electricity.
If the wind gets too high, the turbine has a brake that will keep the blades from turning too fast and being damaged.
Wind turbine at Iowa school. You can use a single smaller wind turbine to power a home or a school. A small turbine makes enough energy for a house. In the picture on the left, the children at this Iowa school are playing beneath a wind turbine that makes enough electricity to power their entire school.
We have many windy areas in California. And wind is blowing in many places all over the earth. The only problem with wind is that it is not windy all the time. In California, it is usually windier during the summer months when wind rushes inland from cooler areas, like the ocean to replace hot rising air in California's warm central valleys and deserts.
In order for a wind turbine to work efficiently, wind speeds usually must be above 12 to 14 miles per hour. Wind has to be this speed to turn the turbines fast enough to generate electricity. The turbines usually produce about 50 to 300 kilowatts of electricity each. A kilowatt is 1,000 watts (kilo means 1,000). You can light ten 100 watt light bulbs with 1,000 watts. So, a 300 kilowatt (300,000 watts) wind turbine could light up 3,000 light bulbs that use 100 watts!
As of 1999, there were 11,368 wind turbines in California. These turbines are grouped together in what are called wind "farms," like those in Palm Springs in the picture on the right. These wind farms are located mostly in the three windiest areas of the state:
  • Altamont Pass, east of San Francisco
  • San Gorgonio Pass, near Palm Springs
  • Tehachapi, south of Bakersfield
wind farm- 3562003 Together these three places in California make enough electricity to supply an entire city the size of San Francisco! About 11 percent of the entire world's wind-generated electricity is found in California. Other countries that use a lot of wind energy are Denmark and Germany.
Once electricity is made by the turbine, the electricity from the entire wind farm is collected together and sent through a transformer. There the voltage is increase to send it long distances over high power lines.
Chapter 17: Renewable vs. Nonrenewable Energy.
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SOLAR ENERGY

Solar Energy
Picture of sun We have always used the energy of the sun as far back as humans have existed on this planet. As far back as 5,000 years ago, people "worshipped" the sun. Ra, the sun-god, who was considered the first king of Egypt. In Mesopotamia, the sun-god Shamash was a major deity and was equated with justice. In Greece there were two sun deities, Apollo and Helios. The influence of the sun also appears in other religions – Zoroastrianism, Mithraism, Roman religion, Hinduism, Buddhism, the Druids of England, the Aztecs of Mexico, the Incas of Peru, and many Native American tribes.
We know today, that the sun is simply our nearest star. Without it, life would not exist on our planet. We use the sun's energy every day in many different ways.
When we hang laundry outside to dry in the sun, we are using the sun's heat to do work – drying our clothes.
Plants use the sun's light to make food. Animals eat plants for food. And as we learned in Chapter 5, decaying plants hundreds of millions of years ago produced the coal, oil and natural gas that we use today. So, fossil fuels is actually sunlight stored millions and millions of years ago.
Indirectly, the sun or other stars are responsible for ALL our energy. Even nuclear energy comes from a star because the uranium atoms used in nuclear energy were created in the fury of a nova – a star exploding.
Let's look at ways in which we can use the sun's energy.
 Solar Hot Wate
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OCEAN ENERGY

Ocean Energy
Wave energy graphic The world's ocean may eventually provide us with energy to power our homes and businesses. Right now, there are very few ocean energy power plants and most are fairly small. But how can we get energy from the ocean?
There are three basic ways to tap the ocean for its energy. We can use the ocean's waves, we can use the ocean's high and low tides, or we can use temperature differences in the water. Let's take a look at each.
 Wave Energy
Kinetic energy (movement) exists in the moving waves of the ocean. That energy can be used to power a turbine. In this simple example, to the right, the wave rises into a chamber. The rising water forces the air out of the chamber. The moving air spins a turbine which can turn a generator.
When the wave goes down, air flows through the turbine and back into the chamber through doors that are normally closed.
This is only one type of wave-energy system. Others actually use the up and down motion of the wave to power a piston that moves up and down inside a cylinder. That piston can also turn a generator.
Most wave-energy systems are very small. But, they can be used to power a warning buoy or a small light house.
 Tidal Energy
 Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC)
Next chapter is about Solar Energy.

Wave energy graphic The world's ocean may eventually provide us with energy to power our homes and businesses. Right now, there are very few ocean energy power plants and most are fairly small. But how can we get energy from the ocean?
There are three basic ways to tap the ocean for its energy. We can use the ocean's waves, we can use the ocean's high and low tides, or we can use temperature differences in the water. Let's take a look at each.
 Wave Energy
Kinetic energy (movement) exists in the moving waves of the ocean. That energy can be used to power a turbine. In this simple example, to the right, the wave rises into a chamber. The rising water forces the air out of the chamber. The moving air spins a turbine which can turn a generator.
When the wave goes down, air flows through the turbine and back into the chamber through doors that are normally closed.
This is only one type of wave-energy system. Others actually use the up and down motion of the wave to power a piston that moves up and down inside a cylinder. That piston can also turn a generator.
Most wave-energy systems are very small. But, they can be used to power a warning buoy or a small light house.
 Tidal Energy
 Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC)
Next chapter is about Solar Energy.
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NUCLEAR ENERGY

Nuclear Energy – Fission and Fusion
Another major form of energy is nuclear energy, the energy that is trapped inside each atom. One of the laws of the universe is that matter and energy can't be created nor destroyed. But they can be changed in form.
Matter can be changed into energy. The world's most famous scientist, Albert Einstein, created the mathematical formula that explains this. It is:
This equation says: Formula
E [energy] equals m [mass] times c2 [c stands for the velocity or the speed of light. c2 means c times c, or the speed of light raised to the second power — or c-squared.]
You can listen to Einstein's voice explaining this at:
Depiction of Atom www.aip.org/history/einstein/voice1.htm
Please note that some web browser software may not show an exponent (raising something to a power, a mathematical expression) on the Internet. Normally c-squared is shown with a smaller "2" placed above and to the right of the c.
Scientists used Einstein's famous equation as the key to unlock atomic energy and also create atomic bombs.
The ancient Greeks said the smallest part of nature is an atom. But they did not know 2,000 years ago about nature's even smaller parts.
As we learned in chapter 2, atoms are made up of smaller particles -- a nucleus of protons and neutrons, surrounded by electrons which swirl around the nucleus much like the earth revolves around the sun.
 Nuclear Fission
 Nuclear Fusion
Read about Ocean Energy in the next chapter.
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Hydro Power

: Hydro Power
Breastshot waterwheel animated gif
When it rains in hills and mountains, the water becomes streams and rivers that run down to the ocean. The moving or falling water can be used to do work. Energy, you'll remember is the ability to do work. So moving water, which has kinetic energy, can be used to make electricity.
For hundreds of years, moving water was used to turn wooden wheels that were attached to grinding wheels to grind (or mill) flour or corn. These were called grist mills or water mills.
In the year 1086, the Domesday Book was written. The multi-volume books are very large. Hand-written on the pages of the books are lists of all properties, homes, stores and other things in England. The Domesday Book listed 5,624 waterwheel-driven mills in England south of the Trent River. That was about one mill for each 400 people.
Water can either go over the top of the wheel like in the photograph on the left, or the wheel can be placed in the moving river. The flow of the river then turns the wheel at the bottom like in the moving graphic on the right.
Today, moving water can also be used to make electricity.
Hydro means water. Hydro-electric means making electricity from water power.
Hydroelectric power uses the kinetic energy of moving water to make electricity. Dams can be built to stop the flow of a river. Water behind a dam often forms a reservoir Like the picture of Shasta Dam in Northern California pictured on the right. Dams are also built across larger rivers but no reservoir is made. The river is simply sent through a hydroelectric power plant or powerhouse. You can see this in the picture of The Dalles Dam on the Columbia River along the border of Oregon and Washington State.
Hydro Power6276143
Hydro is one of the largest producers of electricity in the United States. Water power supplies about 10 percent of the entire electricity that we use. In states with high mountains and lots of rivers, even more electricity if made by hydro power. In California, for example, about 15 percent of all the electricity comes from hydroelectric.
The state of Washington leads the nation in hydroelectricity. The Grand Coulee, Chief Joseph and John Day dams are three of six major dams on the Columbia River. About 87 percent of the electricity made in Washington state is produced by hydroelectric facilities. Some of that electricity is exported from the state and used in other states.
 How a Hydro Dam Works
In the next chapter we will talk about Nuclear Energy - Fission and Fusion.
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GEOTHERMAL ENERGY

Geothermal Energy
7144273 Geothermal Energy has been around for as long as the Earth has existed. "Geo" means earth, and "thermal" means heat. So, geothermal means earth-heat.
Have you ever cut a boiled egg in half? The egg is similar to how the earth looks like inside. The yellow yolk of the egg is like the core of the earth. The white part is the mantle of the earth. And the thin shell of the egg, that would have surrounded the boiled egg if you didn't peel it off, is like the earth's crust.
Below the crust of the earth, the top layer of the mantle is a hot liquid rock called magma. The crust of the earth floats on this liquid magma mantle. When magma breaks through the surface of the earth in a volcano, it is called lava.
9357081 For every 100 meters you go below ground, the temperature of the rock increases about 3 degrees Celsius. Or for every 328 feet below ground, the temperature increases 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit. So, if you went about 10,000 feet below ground, the temperature of the rock would be hot enough to boil water.
Deep under the surface, water sometimes makes its way close to the hot rock and turns into boiling hot water or into steam. The hot water can reach temperatures of more than 300 degrees Fahrenheit (148 degrees Celsius). This is hotter than boiling water (212 degrees F / 100 degrees C). It doesn't turn into steam because it is not in contact with the air.
2660815 When this hot water comes up through a crack in the earth, we call it a hot spring, like Emerald Pool at Yellowstone National Park pictured on the left. Or, it sometimes explodes into the air as a geyser, like Old Faithful Geyser pictured on the right.
About 10,000 years ago, Paleo-Indians used hot springs in North American for cooking. Areas around hot springs were neutral zones. Warriors of fighting tribes would bathe together in peace. Every major hot spring in the United States can be associated with Native American tribes. California hot springs, like at the Geysers in the Napa area, were important and sacred areas to tribes from that area.
In other places around the world, people used hot springs for rest and relaxation. The ancient Romans built elaborate buildings to enjoy hot baths, and the Japanese have enjoyed natural hot springs for centuries.
 Geothermal Today
 Geothermal Electricity
 Geothermal / Ground Source Heat Pumps
Learn about Hydro Power in the next chapter.
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BIOMASS ENERGY

Biomass Energy
8621458Biomass is matter usually thought of as garbage. Some of it is just stuff lying around -- dead trees, tree branches, yard clippings, left-over crops, wood chips (like in the picture to the right), and bark and sawdust from lumber mills. It can even include used tires and livestock manure.
Your trash, paper products that can't be recycled into other paper products, and other household waste are normally sent to the dump. Your trash contains some types of biomass that can be reused. Recycling biomass for fuel and other uses cuts down on the need for "landfills" to hold garbage.
This stuff nobody seems to want can be used to produce electricity, heat, compost material or fuels. Composting material is decayed plant or food products mixed together in a compost pile and spread to help plants grow.
California produces more than 60 million bone dry tons of biomass each year. Of this total, five million bone dry tons is now burned to make electricity. This is biomass from lumber mill wastes, urban wood waste, forest and agricultural residues and other feed stocks.
If all of it was used, the 60 million tons of biomass in California could make close to 2,000 megawatts of electricity for California's growing population and economy. That's enough energy to make electricity for about two million homes!
How biomass works is very simple. The waste wood, tree branches and other scraps are gathered together in big trucks. The trucks bring the waste from factories and from farms to a biomass power plant. Here the biomass is dumped into huge hoppers. This is then fed into a furnace where it is burned. The heat is used to boil water in the boiler, and the energy in the steam is used to turn turbines and generators (see Chapter 8).
7813671 Biomass can also be tapped right at the landfill with burning waster products. When garbage decomposes, it gives off methane gas. You'll remember in chapters 8 and 9 that natural gas is made up of methane. Pipelines are put into the landfills and the methane gas can be collected. It is then used in power plants to make electricity. This type of biomass is called landfill gas.
A similar thing can be done at animal feed lots. In places where lots of animals are raised, the animals - like cattle, cows and even chickens - produce manure. When manure decomposes, it also gives off methane gas similar to garbage. This gas can be burned right at the farm to make energy to run the farm.
Using biomass can help reduce global warming compared to a fossil fuel-powered plant. Plants use and store carbon dioxide (CO2) when they grow. CO2 stored in the plant is released when the plant material is burned or decays. By replanting the crops, the new plants can use the CO2 produced by the burned plants. So using biomass and replanting helps close the carbon dioxide cycle. However, if the crops are not replanted, then biomass can emit carbon dioxide that will contribute toward global warming.
So, the use of biomass can be environmentally friendly because the biomass is reduced, recycled and then reused. It is also a renewable resource because plants to make biomass can be grown over and over.
11554732 Today, new ways of using biomass are still being discovered. One way is to produce ethanol, a liquid alcohol fuel. Ethanol can be used in special types of cars that are made for using alcohol fuel instead of gasoline. The alcohol can also be combined with gasoline. This reduces our dependence on oil – a non-renewable fossil fuel.
Next chapter is about Geothermal Energy.
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NATURAL GAS

Natural Gas Distribution System
We learned in Chapter 8 that natural gas is a fossil fuel. It is a gaseous molecule that's made up of two atoms – one carbon atom combined with four hydrogen atom. It's chemical formula is CH4. The picture on the right is a model of what the molecule could look like.
Don't confuse natural gas with "gasoline," which we call "gas" for short. Like oil, natural gas is found under ground and under the ocean floor. Wells are drilled to tap into natural gas reservoirs just like drilling for oil. Once a drill has hit an area that contains natural gas, it can be brought to the surface through pipes.
The natural gas has to get from the wells to us. To do that, there is a huge network of pipelines that brings natural gas from the gas fields to us. Some of these pipes are two feet wide.
Natural gas is sent in larger pipelines to power plants to make electricity or to factories because they use lots of gas. Bakeries use natural gas to heat ovens to bake bread, pies, pastries and cookies. Other businesses use natural gas for heating their buildings or heating water.
From larger pipelines, the gas goes through smaller and smaller pipes to your neighborhood.
5908224 In businesses and in your home, the natural gas must first pass through a meter, which measures the amount of fuel going into the building. A gas company worker reads the meter and the company will charge you for the amount of natural gas you used.
Energy can be found in a number of different forms. It can be chemical energy, electrical energy, heat (thermal energy), light (radiant energy), mechanical energy, and nuclear energy.
In some homes, natural gas is used for cooking, heating water and heating the house in a furnace.
In rural areas, where there are no natural gas pipelines, propane (another form of gas that's often made when oil is refined) or bottled gas is used instead of natural gas. Propane is also called LPG, or liquefied petroleum gas, is made up of methane and a mixture with other gases like butane.
Propane turns to a liquid when it is placed under slight pressure. For regular natural gas to turn into a liquid, it has to be made very, very cold.
Cars and trucks can also use natural gas as a transportation fuel, but they must carry special cylinder-like tanks to hold the fuel.
When natural gas is burned to make heat or burned in a car's engine, it burns very cleanly. When you combine natural gas with oxygen (the process of combustion), you produce carbon dioxide and water vapor; plus the energy that's released in heat and light.
11285208 Some impurities are contained in all natural gas. These include sulphur and butane and other chemicals. When burned, those impurities can create air pollution. The amount of pollution from natural gas is less than burning a more "complex" fuel like gasoline. Natural gas-powered cars are more than 90 percent cleaner than a gasoline-powered car.
That's why many people feel natural gas would be a good fuel for cars because it burns cleanly.
Next chapter is about Biomass Energy.
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Fossil Fuels

Fossil Fuels - Coal, Oil and Natural Gas
 Where Fossil Fuels Come From
There are three major forms of fossil fuels: coal, oil and natural gas. All three were formed many hundreds of millions of years ago before the time of the dinosaurs – hence the name fossil fuels. The age they were formed is called the Carboniferous Period. It was part of the Paleozoic Era. "Carboniferous" gets its name from carbon, the basic element in coal and other fossil fuels.
8501818 The Carboniferous Period occurred from about 360 to 286 million years ago. At the time, the land was covered with swamps filled with huge trees, ferns and other large leafy plants, similar to the picture above. The water and seas were filled with algae – the green stuff that forms on a stagnant pool of water. Algae is actually millions of very small plants.
Some deposits of coal can be found during the time of the dinosaurs. For example, thin carbon layers can be found during the late Cretaceous Period (65 million years ago) – the time of Tyrannosaurus Rex. But the main deposits of fossil fuels are from the Carboniferous Period. For more about the various geologic eras, go to www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/help/timeform.html
As the trees and plants died, they sank to the bottom of the swamps of oceans. They formed layers of a spongy material called peat. Over many hundreds of years, the peat was covered by sand and clay and other minerals, which turned into a type of rock called sedimentary.
More and more rock piled on top of more rock, and it weighed more and more. It began to press down on the peat. The peat was squeezed and squeezed until the water came out of it and it eventually, over millions of years, it turned into coal, oil or petroleum, and natural gas.
 Coal
 Oil or Petroleum
 Refineries
 Natural Gas
 Saving Fossil Fuels
In the next chapter read about Natural Gas Distribution System.
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