Three technologies are used to convert oil
into electricity:
-Conventional steam - Oil is
burned to heat water to create steam to generate electricity.
-Combustion turbine - Oil is
burned under pressure to produce hot exhaust gases which spin a turbine to
generate electricity.
-Combined-cycle technology - Oil
is first combusted in a combustion turbine, using the heated exhaust gases to
generate electricity. After these exhaust gases are recovered, they heat water
in a boiler, creating steam to drive a second turbine.
With oil prices remaining high, Most
nations are expected to respond to higher oil prices by reducing or eliminating their use for
electricity generation, opting instead for more economical
sources of electricity
generation, including coal and in some cases nuclear energy.
For this reason, electricity
generation from liquid fuels is expected to decrease.
Oil is the largest source of
energy in the United States, providing close to 40 percent of all of the
nation's entire power needs. Though most oil is used for transportation or home
heating purposes, a small percentage is still used as a fuel for electricity
generating plants.
New York, oil still comprises
about 8 percent of the state's electricity fuel mix.
Burning oil to generate
electricity produces significant air pollution in the forms of nitrogen oxides,
and, depending on the sulfur content of the oil, sulfur dioxide and
particulates. Carbon dioxide and methane (as well as other greenhouse gases),
heavy metals such as mercury, and volatile organic compounds (which contribute
to ground-level ozone) all can come out of the smoke stack of an oil-burning
power plant.