Natural Gas Uses
Natural gas is used extensively in residential, commercial and industrial applications. It is the dominant energy used for home heating with more than 64 million (or about half of) American homes using natural gas. The use of natural gas is important to electric power generation and providing energy to manufacturing and commercial business needs.
About 46 percent of natural gas delivered to U.S. consumers is used in the industrial sector, providing energy for everything from mining minerals to processing food. Generating electricity consumes about 15 percent. Another 15 percent is used in the commercial market -- for heating and cooling office buildings, hospitals and schools, and for cooking in restaurants. Most of the remaining amount -- about 22 percent -- is used in the residential market, providing energy for home heating, hot water, cooking, clothes drying and outdoor lighting.