Well yeah, that's what's generating your power. Oil or whatever burns, heats up water, produces steam which turns a generator. Of course, there are other options such as nuclear power but it is hard to dispose of nuclear waste. Sustainable options such as wind solar and wave power are all environmentally clean, but generate less electricity and rely on weather conditions being right, so they might not work otherwise. At the moment the only reliable options to generate power are burning fossil fuels and nuclear energy, but both are environmentally unclean, and will eventually run out. We need to find other options.
The use of boilers in the power generation cycle is based on several things. First you can build very, very large systems and there by get economy of scale as far as economics are concerned.
Boilers let you use a variety of fuels from wood chips to coal to natural gas or fuel oil. Typically the choice is based on what is available and cheapest.
Very large boilers tend to be more efficient than internal combustion engines as generator prime movers.
Water is the liquid of choice for use in the boilers because it is readily available, non flammable and has a relatively large latent heat.
Combined cycle gas turbine units are thermally efficient but they are limited in size and therefore you do not get the economy of scale you do with a coal or hydrocarbon fueled boiler/steam turbine system.
When water is converted into steam, it expands to over a thousand times its original volume. That can generate a great amount of pressure.
Water is the main source of electricity. So we use water to generate electricity but some time we also use steam to generate electricity. But in critical situations only other wise not. coz we spoil a lot of raw materials.
we burn a lot of our valuable oil just to get mere steam......is it worth to be used..??
