All about the fuel source that heats our homes

You can be forgiven for not thinking about the energy that is supplied to our homes and how our houses are heated. We are instead, rightly, more focused on the cost of the energy supply along with ensuring that the Gas Meter Box that we got from https://www.meterbox.co.uk/gas-meter-boxes is in good shape.

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But if you are interested here are some facts about natural gas:

  • Gas from natural sources is completely odourless and completely colourless, in order to make it easier and safer to be able to detect the gas, especially in the event of a leak somewhere within your system or perhaps in the pipes delivering the gas supply to your home, the companies actually add a smell. The smell that is added is that of mercaptan which is what gives the rotten egg aroma to the gas.
  • Natural gas is made up mainly of methane, but it does also contain smaller amount of other compounds such as butane, propane, ethane and naphtha. It is thought that this gas was first discovered in the Middle East region somewhere between 6000 and 2000 BC. It is not known exactly when this discovery occurred but what is know is how it was discovered. During a storm lightning struck and ignited the natural gas that was seeping from the ground and caused the locals to investigate further and there they came across the natural gas source.
  • Transporting gas became the next problem to solve and this was first established by the Chinese who used pipes made from bamboo to move the gas to their desired locations.

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  • It wasn’t until 1792 that the first gas light was used in the UK by William Murdoch who was an engineer. The technology being used in streetlights advanced quickly to the style and types of lights that we see now.
  • We often think of gas as being the compound that heats our homes and cooks our food, but it is used for some many different things including the creation of vinyl flooring and carpets as well as deodorant and mobile phones.
  • The UK has been looking at ways to reduce its dependence on fossil fuel and as a result the country has managed to reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to the levels that were seen during the Victoria period.

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