Steam: The other white heat

Seattle Steam Corporation
Originally uploaded by Mr. Boutwell.

You pay your gas bill, your water bill and your electric bill. There's the cable bill, the phone bill and then usually an add-on to one or the other is the Internet bill. When was the last time you paid a steam bill?

People don't quite believe you when you bring it up, but steam is a real and regulated public utility. Running beneath the streets in many of America's older major cities, including Seattle, are pipes delivering fresh, hot steam to large office buildings, hotels and apartments.

According this post at Answers.com, the Seattle Steam Company (plant door pictured above) has been delivering natural gas-created steam through its 18 miles of pipes to Harborview Medical Center, the Seattle Public Library and other clients since 1893.

It's mostly used for heat, though the hospitals find it does nicely for sterilization, too.