Electricity in lieu of nautral gas and oil for industrial thermal energy: a preliminary survey

Technical Report · Thu Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1979

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6433137· OSTI ID:6433137

Tallackson, J. R.

In 1974, industrial processors accounted for nearly 50% of the nation's natural gas consumption and nearly 20% of its consumption of petroleum. This report is a preliminary assessment of the potential capability of the process industries to substitute utility-generated electricity for these scarce fuels. It is tacitly assumed that virtually all public utilities will soon be relying on coal or nuclear fission for primary energy. It was concluded that the existing technology will permit substitution of electricity for approximately 75% of the natural gas and petroleum now being consumed by industrial processors, which is equivalent to an annual usage of 800 million barrels of oil and 9 trillion cubic feet of gas at 1974 levels. Process steam generation, used throughout industry and representing 40% of its energy usage, offers the best near-term potential for conversion to electricity. Electric boilers and energy costs for steam are briefly discussed. Electrically driven heat pumps are considered as a possible method to save additional low-grade energy. Electrical reheating at high temperatures in the primary metals sector will be an effective way to conserve gas and oil. A wholesale shift by industry to electricity to replace gas and oil will produce impacts on the public utilities and, perhaps, those of a more general socio-economic nature. The principal bar to large-scale electrical substitution is economics, not technology. 174 references.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• OSTI ID: 6433137
• Report Number(s): ORNL/TM-5937
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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