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Energy FAQs
Natural Gas Questions
- Where does natural gas come from?
- What factors contribute to the price of natural gas?
- What makes gas prices go up?
- Is there a shortage of natural gas?
- How long will the natural gas supplies in the U.S. last?
- How much methane do cows produce?
- Who invented rotary drills?
- How many miles of natural gas pipelines are there in the U.S.?
- What’s in natural gas?
- What is methane?
- What makes natural gas a clean fuel?
- How much of our country’s energy needs are served by natural gas?
- Are more homes heated by natural gas or electricity?
- Where in the United States is natural gas located?
- How much natural gas is produced in the world?
- How much natural gas do we use?
- Why is natural gas used to run electric power plants?
Electricity Questions
- Where do we get electricity?
- What is an electron?
- How can an electric eel create electricity?
- What is voltage as opposed to amperage?
- How come a bird doesn’t get shocked when it lands on a power line?
- Do people produce electricity naturally?
- What is static electricity?
- Can static electricity be dangerous?
- Why are my clothes so full of static after I take them out of the dryer?
- How do you make electricity?
- How many miles of electric transmission lines are there in the U.S.?
- Why doesn’t more electricity come from waterfalls and dams?
- Why did some electric companies raise their prices at the same time as oil companies?
- Did any utilities switch to coal power during oil shortages?
- How long will the coal and oil supply last?
- Are we looking for other ways to produce electricity?
- Are nuclear power plants still in the early stages of use?
- Which is more dangerous, nuclear electricity or regular electricity?
- How do we get electricity from nuclear power plants?
- What is nuclear fission as opposed to nuclear fusion?
- Can a nuclear power plant explode like a bomb?
- Do nuclear power plants give off radioactive energy into the air and surrounding area?
- Why can’t electricity be made from the sun?
- Can’t batteries store electricity?
- Can’t you recharge a battery?
- Why don’t I get shocked when I touch a battery?
- Why doesn’t my car battery have as much charge in cold weather as it does in warm?
- Is a battery the same as a fuel cell?
- Why aren’t more electrical cables underground?
- Do they make electric cars?
- If I touch an electrical appliance during a thunderstorm, can I get hurt?
- Can electricity spill out of the power outlet in my wall?
- I was out of town, but my home still used electricity. Why?
- Could we have another large-area blackout like ones we’ve had in the past?
- Will we ever run out of electricity
- Is electricity created at power plants?
- Who discovered electromagnetic induction?
- What are semiconductors and superconductors?
- How much energy is in a bolt of lightning?
- What is St. Elmo’s Fire?
- Who holds the world’s record for most often to be hit by lightning?
- Why is epilepsy described as an "electrical storm" in the brain?
- What are those little boxes on hair dryer cords?
- Why are sharks such good hunters?
- Do fish ever get struck by lightning?
Natural Gas Questions
1.Q: Where does natural gas come from?
A: Most of the region’s natural gas comes primarily from wells in the Gulf of Mexico.
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2.Q: What Factors contribute to the price of natural gas?
A: There are three main areas:
- Production – the gathering and processing of natural gas.
- Transportation – getting the natural gas to distributors.
- Distribution – the delivery of natural gas to individuals and businesses.
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3.Q: What makes gas prices go up?
A: If consumption is high and supplies are low, wholesale costs tend to rise. Wholesale prices are set and driven at a national level, not a local level. Natural gas prices are also affected by the costs associated with transportation.
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4.Q: Is there a shortage of natural gas?
A: No. The primary reason for supply issues in recent years is that demand has increased – even during summer months – as natural gas is used more and more for electricity production. In some instances, this has prevented gas distributors from storing desired levels of gas before the winter heating season. Because it take anywhere from 18 to 24 months to locate new wells and bring gas to the market, there is a natural lag between when demand occurs and when new supply is available.
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5.Q: How long will the natural gas supplies in the U.S. last?
A: Based on the rate of current production of natural gas, the U.S. supply is currently expected to last 66 years. The U.S. actually ranks sixth in the size of its natural gas reserves. Russia has tremendous reserves (1,700 trillion cu.ft.), followed by Iran (812.3 trillion cu.ft.), Qatar (300 trillion cu.ft.), United Arab Emirates (212 trillion cu. ft.), Saudi Arabia (204.5 trillion cu.ft.), and the United States (167.4 trillion cu.ft.).
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6.Q: How much methane do cows produce?
A: The average cow’s digestive tract releases 600 liters of methane per day—enough to fill 40 party balloons!
© 2002 Culverco, LLC
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7.Q: Who invented rotary drills?
A: The Egyptians are credited with a first in drilling technology: they used rotary drilling mechanisms as early as 3000 B.C. In 1500 A.D., Leonardo da Vinci developed a design for a drilling rig that is similar to many of those in use today to locate natural gas deposits.
© 2002 Culverco, LLC
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8.Q: How many miles of natural gas pipelines are there in the U.S.?
A: More than 1.5 million miles of underground pipelines deliver natural gas to 175 million customers in the U.S. The delivery lines can cost as much as $1 million per mile to build.
© 2002 Culverco, LLC
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9.Q: What’s in natural gas?
A: Natural gas found in the ground contains methane, ethane, propane, butane, pentane, and traces of hexane and heptanes. Gas utilities remove almost everything but the methane so the natural gas delivered to your home will burn cleanly.
© 2003 Culverco, LLC
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10.Q: What is methane?
A: Methane is a molecule made up of one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms. Its chemical formula is CH4.
© 2003 Culverco, LLC
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11.Q: What makes natural gas a clean fuel?
A: The main products released when natural gas is burned are carbon dioxide and water vapor. Coal and oil are more chemically complex than natural gas, so when burned they release a variety of potentially harmful chemicals into the air.
© 2003 Culverco, LLC
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12.Q: How much of our country’s energy needs are served by natural gas?
A: Natural gas supplies about 23 percent of all energy used in the United States.
© 2003 Culverco, LLC
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13.Q: Are more homes heated by natural gas or electricity?
A: Nearly 70 percent of single family homes completed in 2001 use natural gas heating, followed by 27 percent that use electric heat, and 3 percent that use heating oil. (Source: U.S. Census Bureau)
© 2003 Culverco, LLC
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14.Q: Where in the United States is natural gas located?
A: Natural gas is found in 33 states.
© 2003 Culverco, LLC
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15.Q: How much natural gas is produced in the world?
A: Natural gas is found in about 50 countries. About 2,464 billion cubic meters of natural gas are taken out of the ground and processed for use each year. Here is a list of how much is produced by various countries and regions:
- United States 22.5 %
- Canada 7.0 %
- Mexico 1.4 %
- Central and South America 4.0 %
- Europe 11.9 %
- Former Soviet Union 27.5 %
- Middle East 9.3 %
- Africa 5.0 %
- Asian and Pacific Countries 11.4 %
(Source: BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2002)
© 2003 Culverco, LLC
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16.Q: How much natural gas do we use?
A: About 2,405 billion cubic meters of natural gas are used yearly in the world. Here is a list of how much of that is used by various countries and regions. (The difference between the total natural gas produced and the total natural gas used is due to difficulties in measuring gas supplied.)
- United States 25.6 %
- Canada 3.0 %
- Mexico 1.4 %
- Central and South America 4.0 %
- Europe 19.5 %
- Former Soviet Union 22.8 %
- Middle East 8.4 %
- Africa 2.5 %
- Asian and Pacific Countries 12.7 %
(Source: BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2002)
© 2003 Culverco, LLC
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17.Q: Why is natural gas used to run electric power plants?
A: In the 1970s and 1980s, most electric power plants were fueled by coal or nuclear power. In 2000, some 23,453 megawatts (MW) of new electric capacity was added in the U.S. and almost 95 percent of this, or 22,238 MW, was fueled by natural gas. (Source: American Gas Association)
© 2003 Culverco, LLC
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Electricity Questions
1.Q: Where do we get electricity?
A: Much of the electricity we use on a daily basis comes from power plants. There, electricity is made by spinning a magnet inside many coils of wire, causing unseen electrons to flow into electricity.
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2.Q: What is an electron?
A: It is an unseen part of an atom that carries an electrical charge.
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3.Q: How can an electric eel create electricity?
A: An electric eel uses natural chemicals in its body to manufacture electricity. When the eel needs to, it can discharge this stored electricity and give prey or an attacker a jolt strong enough to stun a horse.
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4.Q: What is voltage as opposed to amperage?
A: Amperage measures the amount of the flow of electrical current, whereas voltage measures the pressure of that flow.
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5.Q: How come a bird doesn’t get shocked when it lands on a power line?
A: The simple answer is because the bird only lands on a single line. The flow of electricity always wants to take the easiest route – and it is easier for the electricity to keep flowing through the electrical line. However, if a bird touches two wires at once, the flow will jump through the bird between the two lines, electrocuting the bird.
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6.Q: Do people produce electricity naturally?
A: Yes. Through chemical reactions in our cells, the human body produces small amounts of electricity. In fact, when we see, hear, smell or feel something, it is because of tiny electrical signals that are sent through our bodies to our brain.
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7.Q: What is static electricity?
A: Everything is made up of atoms, and every atom has some electrons. Some items have more electrons than others. When a more positively charged item comes in contact with an item with fewer electrons, a small shock occurs. That’s why sometimes you get a shock when you grab a doorknob.
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8.Q: Can static electricity be dangerous?
A: Lightning is a form of static electricity, and as you’ve probably seen, can be very dangerous. Lightning occurs when a cloud with a greater concentration of electrons moves to another cloud without as many electrons, or even to the ground, causing a electrical flash.
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9.Q: Why are my clothes so full of static after I take them out of the dryer?
A: The tumbling and rubbing back and forth as the dryer turns causes an electric charge to build up.
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10.Q: How do you make electricity?
A: Electricity can be made by spinning a magnet inside a coil of wires. As it spins, a changing magnetic field penetrates the wires causing electricity to be produced.
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11.Q: How many miles of electric transmission lines are there in the U.S.?
A: In 2000, reports the Edison Electric Institute, there were 517,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines in the U.S. and many hundreds of thousands more miles of distribution lines, carrying electricity to our homes.
© 2002 Culverco, LLC
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12.Q: Why doesn’t more electricity come from waterfalls and dams?
A: Only about 15% of the electricity in the U.S. comes from water power. That is because there simply are not enough waterfalls and dams in the country.
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13.Q: Why did some electric companies raise their prices at the same time as oil companies?
A: Nearly 17% of our electricity in the country comes from burning oil. Because the cost of that oil rose, the cost of producing the electricity rose as well, making it more costly to use.
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14.Q: Did any utilities switch to coal power during oil shortages?
A: Yes. For those plants where it was a practical alternative, they switched to coal power to create electricity.
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15.Q: How long will the coal and oil supply last?
A: We don’t know for sure. However, we do know that these supplies are growing short so it would be wise to conserve them.
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16.Q: Are we looking for other ways to produce electricity?
A: For quite some time scientists and engineers have been trying to find new and productive ways of producing electricity. Some include new kinds of nuclear power, solar and wind power, though the practical use of these new technologies is still in the beginning stages.
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17.Q: Are nuclear power plants still in the early stages of use?
A: Actually, the first nuclear power plant went into operation back in the late 50’s. Now there are nearly 50 power plants in operation across the country, producing about 7% of the nation’s electricity.
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18.Q: Which is more dangerous, nuclear electricity or regular electricity?
A: There’s actually no such thing as nuclear electricity. Electricity is the same, just produced in different ways.
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19.Q: How do we get electricity from nuclear power plants?
A: A nuclear plant uses energy to boil water, making steam that turns large turbines to produce electricity.
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20.Q: What is nuclear fission as opposed to nuclear fusion?
A: Fission is when heavy atoms are split apart. Fusion is when they are joined together. Both fission and fusion can create large amounts of energy. The power plants currently use nuclear fission to produce power, while the process of nuclear fusion is still being researched.
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21.Q: Can a nuclear power plant explode like a bomb?
A: No. Often people hear the word “nuclear” and automatically think the power plant is capable of exploding like a nuclear bomb. It is simply untrue. Nuclear bombs and nuclear power plants are created and function very differently.
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22.Q: Do nuclear power plants give off radioactive energy into the air and surrounding area?
A: Nuclear power plants give off hardly any radiation at all. In fact, you are exposed to more radiation while flying across the country on a jet than you’d get living near a nuclear power plant.
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23.Q: Why can’t electricity be made from the sun?
A: While solar power can be used to make electricity, the technology of doing so effectively is still in its early stages.
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24.Q: Can’t batteries store electricity?
A: Actually, batteries produce electricity through chemical reactions – they do not store electricity.
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25.Q: Can’t you recharge a battery?
A: In a way, yes. By connecting a battery to another electrical source, the flow of electrons through the battery regenerates the chemicals used to give the battery a charge.
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26.Q: Why don’t I get shocked when I touch a battery?
A: There is simply not enough voltage in a regular household battery to cause a shock. A car battery on the other hand can give you a shock if you touch both positive and negative connections.
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27.Q: Why doesn’t my car battery have as much charge in cold weather as it does in warm?
A: Because chemical reactions inside the battery move slower in colder weather, the battery does not produce as much of a charge. In warmer weather, the chemicals move faster and create a bigger charge.
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28.Q: Is a battery the same as a fuel cell?
A: No. A battery creates an electrical charge from a chemical reaction and eventually goes dead. A fuel cell requires the constant addition of fuels – like oxygen and another substance – to produce and electrical charge.
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29.Q: Why aren’t more electrical cables underground?
A: It is less costly to run the cables overhead. While newer technologies have brought that cost down, the time and cost to place already existing lines underground is not an economic option in many places.
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30.Q: Do they make electric cars?
A: As technology improves, electric hybrid cars are finding their way into the marketplace. As time goes on, this technology may become more mainstream.
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31.Q: If I touch an electrical appliance during a thunderstorm, can I get hurt?
A: Probably not. There is a very small chance that a lightning strike can cause a surge through an electrical appliance. If you were to touch an appliance at just that moment, there is a very slight possibility.
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32.Q: Can electricity spill out of the power outlet in my wall?
A: No. Unless the outlet is damaged in some way, you’re in no danger of electricity finding its way out of the power outlet.
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33.Q: I was out of town, but my home still used electricity. Why?
A: Even though you might not be home, some appliances – like your refrigerator – continue to run.
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34.Q: Could we have another large-area blackout like ones we’ve had in the past?
A: While a small possibility does exist, your power company is doing all it can to prevent such an event from taking place.
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35.Q: Will we ever run out of electricity?
A: Because electricity is the movement of electrons, we can always create electricity. However, it is important we conserve energies that go into producing electricity – like coal, or nuclear power – so that our electrical needs continue far into the future.
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36.Q: Is electricity created at power plants?
A: No. Technically speaking, electricity can’t ever be “created.” The Law of Conservation of Energy states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but can only change its form. The total quantity of matter and energy available in the universe is a fixed amount. So, at a power plant, mechanical energy (the energy contained in the movement of giant magnets past coils of wire) changes to electrical energy (the flow of electrons).
You can take this back even further...Where does the mechanical energy come from that moves the magnets? If the power plant runs on fossil fuels, then it comes from a form of chemical energy. Where does the chemical energy in fossil fuels come from? Fossil fuels are made from prehistoric plants, and plants get their energy from the sun. So you could say that electricity generated in a fossil fuel-burning plant ultimately comes from the sun.
The mechanical energy used to move the magnets in a generating plant could also come from falling water, the ebb and flow of the tides, the wind, heat from the sun, and nuclear fission. But in all cases, the energy gets changed from one form to another. It doesn't just appear and disappear.
© 2002 Culverco, LLC
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37.Q: Who discovered electromagnetic induction?
A: In 1831 Michael Faraday discovered that passing a magnet through a loop of wire created a current. Soon after, Joseph Henry discovered that the current produced around any closed loop of wire is proportional to the rate at which the magnet moves through the loop. The faster the magnet moves, the stronger the current. The wire loop actually transfers kinetic energy (the movement of the magnet) into electrical energy.
© 2002 Culverco, LLC
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38.Q: What are semiconductors and superconductors?
A: A semiconductor is a normally insulating material that has been mixed with a few conductive atoms that cause the material to control an electric current passed through it. A superconductor is an element, inter-metallic alloy, or compound that will conduct electricity without resistance below a certain temperature.
© 2002 Culverco, LLC
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39.Q: How much energy is in a bolt of lightning?
A: One lightning strike carries 30 million volts—as much electricity as 2.5 million car batteries.
© 2002 Culverco, LLC
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40.Q: What is St. Elmo’s Fire?
A: It’s a type of lightning that clings to ships’ masts and makes them glow. It was named for a 4th-century Italian bishop, Elmo, patron saint of fire.
© 2002 Culverco, LLC
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41.Q: Who holds the world’s record for most often to be hit by lightning?
A: According to the Guinness Book of Records, Roy G. Sullivan, a former U.S. park ranger, was struck by lightning seven times over the course of his 35-year career. Lightning has burned off his eyebrows, seared his shoulder, set his hair on fire, injured his ankle, and burned his belly and chest.
© 2002 Culverco, LLC
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42.Q: Why is epilepsy described as an "electrical storm" in the brain?
A: Nerve cells in the brain communicate with each other through tiny electrical signals. During an epileptic seizure, some or all of these cells suddenly begin to fire together, causing a wave of electrical energy that sweeps through the brain. Many muscles contract, or seize, all at the same time.
© 2002 Culverco, LLC
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43.Q: What are those little boxes on hair dryer cords?
A: In the early 1980s there were about 18 deaths a year caused by hair dryers falling into bathtubs or sinks filled with water. Since 1991, hair dryer manufacturers have been required to include GFCIs on the dryer cords. The number of hair dryer related deaths has dropped to an average of two per year.
© 2002 Culverco, LLC
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44.Q: Why are sharks such good hunters?
A: A shark’s senses are so acute it can detect the electrical impulses produced by the bodies of other underwater animals. The fact that water is a good conductor of electricity makes it possible for sharks to use this electrical sixth sense to hunt prey.
© 2002 Culverco, LLC
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45.Q: Do fish ever get struck by lightning?
A: Because water conducts electricity, when lightning strikes water it spreads out along the surface. Any fish near the surface of the water get electrocuted.
© 2002/2003 3 Culverco, LLC
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