Blanche Kameny !

Lillian Blanche Kameny

Dr. Peters

ENGL 134

31 October 2018

Electricity: A Cultural Divide

Towering and full-bodied, a tree stands tall, with it’s branches twining and twirling and

its leaves springing organically off them. Chop! The tree is felled and sliced into neat blocks to

be lit on fire. This is wood, the first resource used to produce energy. In China, a miner heaves a

pickaxe over his shoulder to chip away at the black rock formed millions of years ago. This is a

new form of energy: coal. Coal replaces wood in the hearths of many, but also paves way for

novel energy technologies. Instead of placing the stones in the fire-pit, geniuses develop

electricity. The stones are pulverized into a fine powder and then lit on fire, turning liquid water

into gaseous steam. The hot steam rolls through the tubular system and rotates a clunky turbine.

The turbine then rotates a generator, filled with wire coils, in a magnetic field, producing

electricity. Tar-black, liquid lakes with a rainbow sheen are found around the world. Buckets of it

are shipped away to be lit on fire—this is oil. Though oil is the primary fuel for America today, it

does not contribute to the production of electricity. Deep in the crevices of the earth lie pockets

of hydrocarbons—carbons and hydrogens, covalently bonded—which is whisked away in pipes

to be separated in a gas processing plant. The gas processing plant then pumps the methanes,

propanes, and butanes to the compressor station, to an underground storage reserve, or an

odorant. Companies reap these gases and distribute them to their consumers. Electricity can also

be produced by natural gas, through similar processes as coal. Instead of aqueous steam
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powering the turbines, it’s the natural gasses that power the generator. Each of these fuel types

paved way for each other; wood lead to coal, coal led to oil and natural gas, and coal and natural

gas lead to electricity.

Works Cited:

https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/index.php?page=natural_gas_delivery

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_of_the_United_States

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_the_United_States

http://naturalgas.org/overview/uses-electrical/

Books: