How is natural gas used to generate electricity?
The cleanest fossil fuel energizes turbines, boilers and engines to account for about 20 percent of the electricity generated in the U.S. That fuel, natural gas, is also efficient and plentiful. Even though natural gas critics say it is still a dirty fossil fuel with a finite supply, the Department of Energy predicts that 90 percent of new power plants in the U.S. in the next two decades will likely be fired by natural gas.Steam GenerationThe standard way to use a fossil fuel, including natural gas, is to burn it in a boiler to heat water and create steam. The steam is then used to spin a turbine attached to an electromagnetic shaft that generates the electricity.TurbinesIn a gas turbine, the natural gas is fired to directly spin the turbine. This system has grown in popularity, even though it is slightly less efficient than larger steam plants, because gas turbine units can be built in a relatively short time, don’t require a lot of space and can be fired up quickly for peak demand. G
