Do some textile mills use steam power?

Question

NewBedford Ma, has a lot of old textile mills that used steam power in the late 1800's. Some of the mills are still being used. I've seen smoke comming out of the some of the huge smoke stacks. Do some of these still in operation, still use steam power?

Answer 1

No modern mill will use steam power.  The smoke you see is mostly steam but released from water boiler systems (natural gas, fuel oil, or coal) used to heat water for the mill processes.  All machinary in the mills run on electricity, hot water, or hot thermal fluids.