For those people who have invested or thinking about investing in a power generator for back-up power needs, extra electrical needs, or portable electrical needs, a big consideration should be the type of fuel that is used. There are many sources of fuel for providing electrical energy from the generator including gasoline, natural gas, diesel, solar, wind, and a few other fuel sources as well. The type of fuel selected for a generator can have big impacts on everything from the environment, cost, and electrical output. Sources like gasoline and natural gas are non-renewable where as solar and wind come free and are renewable. For continuous, high energy output, gasoline and natural gas are better fuel sources. These are just a few of the considerations. Natural gas, however has some major points over the other fuel sources and is recommended in this article.
Why is natural gas a good fuel source for generators? Well first of all, a lot of homes use natural gas to fuel stoves, ovens, and even fireplaces. Those who have paid the gas bill will often find it is much cheaper than the electrical bill. For those unlucky people with electric ranges, electric water heating, and other electricity dependent heating, the high price of electricity is a big cash vacuum. The price of natural gas is very good compared to other fuel sources as well. The energy output provided verses the cost is better than that of diesel and gasoline.
When it comes to generators, most backup generators work better with natural gas because the supply is already coming to the location. Most homes have a pipeline for their natural gas that can be harnessed by backup generators to supply electricity when other sources are not working. Automatic transfer switches can determine when there are blackouts or other electrical problems and supply electrical power produced from the location's natural gas source. This means that there is no need to purchase any additional fuel for the generator as it is already pulling from a decent costing fuel source in natural gas. This can not be achieved with some of the other fuel sources as well.
Another reason natural gas should be used in power generators is it's energy production which is comparable to that of gasoline and diesel. For people who have natural gas products, the energy output is not even noticeable but the cost is. Natural gas makes the energy to cost ratio efficient. For portable generators, the same output can also be achieved as natural gas can be supplied to the generator much like how a barbecue grill is supplied. This makes supplying fuel to portable units easy as all that is needed is a canister of natural gas that just needs to be plugged in to the fuel line.
Natural gas is also cleaner than both diesel and gasoline. Natural gas will cause less engine buildup and lead to longer lifetime of a costly generator. There are also natural gas conversion kits for many types of generators that allow changing the fuel type. These conversion kits can help extend the usefulness of old generators by using natural gas as the fuel type instead.
Natural gas is not only a good energy source for homes but also a good one for portable or emergency power generators as well. They provide high, continuous amounts of energy at a very efficient cost to both residential and business users.