Woodruff E., Lammers H. et al. Steam Plant Operation

McGrawHil Publishing Company. 8TH EDITION, 2005. 795 p.In today’s modern world, all societies are involved to various degrees with technological breakthroughs that are attempting to make our lives more productive and more comfortable. These technologies include sophisticated electronic devices, the most prominent of which are computer systems. Many of the systems in our modern world depend on a reliable and relatively inexpensive energy source—electricity. In fact, inexpensive and reliable electricity is critical to the sustained economic growth and security of the United States and of the rest of the world.The United States depends on reliable, low-cost, and abundant energy. Energy drives the economy, heats homes, and pumps water. The efficient use and production of electricity and effective conservation measures are paramount in ensuring low-cost energy. As an example, the United States uses about 10 percent more energy today than it did in 1973, yet there are more than 20 million additional homes and 50 million more vehicles, and the gross national product (GNP) is 50 percent higher.With the availability of electricity providing most of the industrialized world a very high degree of comfort, the source of this electricity and the means for its production are often forgotten. It is the power plant that provides this critical energy source, and in the United States approximately 90 percent of the electricity is produced from power plants that use steam as an energy source, with the remaining 10 percent of the electricity produced primarily by hydroelectric power plants. In other parts of the world, similar proportions are common for their electric production.