Is Natural Gas Actually Clean Energy or Just Another Dirty Fossil Fuel?
Natural gas…sounds lovely, right? Who wouldn’t want something natural? Sure, it is naturally occurring, but that’s the tricky part about the word. Natural does not equal good. So, what is natural gas? Should we still be using it? Why do we use it in the first place? What other options do we have? Let’s discuss it!
This has been a topic I’ve seen growing in popularity over the past few months, not only because burning it inside our homes can cause health issues, but also because I’ve seen a few eco-activists praising natural gas. So, I want to know, should I also be singing the praises of fossil fuel? Or is their hype incorrect?
What is natural gas?
Despite its green-sounding name, natural gas is made from fossil fuels and is an energy source. It contains a variety of compounds but is mostly composed of methane which is 80x worse than CO2. You can learn more about methane in this post about food waste. Natural gas is also composed of carbon dioxide and water vapor.
How did natural gas form?
Similarly to other fossil fuels (hence the name), natural gas was formed millions to hundreds of millions of years ago from the remains of plants and atoms. They built up in layers over the earth’s surface which mixed with things like sand, salt, and calcium carbonate. As layers build up, so do the pressure and heat which changed some of the carbon and hydrogen into coal, some changed into oil, and others changed into natural gas. Here’s a nice little graphic from eia.gov:
Where is natural gas found?
Again, like its fossil fuel siblings, natural gas is found embedded in rocks underground. Sometimes it is found in large cracks and spaces between layers of rock and other times it’s found in tinier spaces, the pores of rocks such as shale, sandstone, and other sedimentary rock. This is why it is sometimes referred to as shale gas or tight gas. It can also be seen in conjunction with crude oil deposits.
Finding and processing natural gas
Natural gas is found like other fossil fuels (see the theme here?) by geologists that use seismic surveys on land and in the ocean. Once a pocket is detected, they must make sure the amount of natural gas will be profitable. Don’t want to lose a profit. Then, fracking begins. Fracking breaks up the formation and lets the natural gas be released from the rock which helps it flow to the surface, into a pipeline, and to a processing plant.
After that, the water vapor and nonhydrocarbon compounds are removed from the mix. Once it is “dry” it is ready for consumption. So, it will be sent back into a pipeline to storage fields or distribution centers.
Why do we use natural gas? Is it really better?
Natural gas is used as an energy source and it’s EVERYWHERE. I have never seen it as popular as I have in Las Vegas. It powers buses and homes and also is used for heating and cooking. Our stove, oven, washer, and dryer all run off of natural gas here (and we were renters in Vegas so we couldn’t help it). Natural gas has been used since ancient times with records dating back as far as 1000 BC. It started commercial use around 1785 in Britain shortly followed by Baltimore, Maryland. Today, natural gas supplies over 50% of the energy consumed by all residential and commercial customers worldwide, about 41% in the US. Most sources boast about how clean it is…for a fossil fuel. Yes, I’ll admit, it does burn clean FOR A FOSSIL FUEL. But you really can’t call burning methane clean energy as methane is one of the leading greenhouse gases. This is where I think the hype gets lost in translation, people often forget that caveat. Though, in Europe, they do classify natural gas as green energy…wild.
Now, it’s very nuanced. Natural gas has helped keep the US on track for emission reduction. That’s great. But the longer we rely on fossil fuels, the harder it is to convince people that truly clean energy is the future. Do I wish we were burning coal and oil instead, no, definitely not, but do we need to make the swap away from fossil fuels entirely, yes?
According to UCSUSA, natural gas does emit 50-60% less CO2 than coal. But, keep in mind, natural gas is almost entirely methane, of course, it’s CO2 emissions are drastically lower. Natural gas also emits 15-20% fewer heat-trapping gases than gasoline when burned in a standard car. I think this number is must more accurate as methane AND CO2 are considered heat-trapping gases. The same source also discusses that we must look at the full picture. What this means is we need to look at natural gas leaks which appear to be quite common. These numbers are only measuring the burning of methane, not the extraction and leakage from pipelines. This recent study found that methane losses must be less than 3.2% in order for natural gas power plants to have lower lifecycle emissions than coal power. So, if they lose more than that, natural gas is no better than other fossil fuels in its lifecycle. This is why it’s SO important to look at the full lifecycle of something when comparing emissions, not just how it burns.
Let’s keep talking about emissions. Natural gas still produces nitrogen oxides, though at a lower level than gasoline and diesel, which is a precursor to smog. The DOE analyses indicate that every 10,000 U.S. homes powered with natural gas instead of coal avoid the annual emissions of 1,900 tons of NOx, 3,900 tons of SO2, and 5,200 tons of particulates. This means the air is ultimately cleaner leading to fewer respiratory issues. That, of course, hinges on the fact that we also reduce other fossil fuel usage. But, again, this is only where natural gas is burned. Where it is extracted is a whole other story. Areas that have been subjected to drilling have seen increases in hazardous air pollutants. Exposure to these can lead to respiratory and cardiovascular issues.
Without doing a whole essay on these remaining issues, here is briefly how natural gas is affecting other aspects of life:
- Construction and land disturbance affect plants and wildlife and can destroy protected lands
- Leaks can cause air and water pollution
- Hydraulic fracking uses tons of water
- Fracking has been linked to low-magnitude earthquakes
Should we keep using natural gas?
This is clearly an opinion so there are no sources out there on it and I would love to hear your thoughts below. First, I will never be an environmentalist who praises natural gas. There are clearly some pros to using it over crude oil and coal, but they aren’t astounding enough to me. Should we use it in place of oil and coal for the time being? Sure. But should we use it in place of coal and oil forever? No. There is no way a fossil fuel, no matter how “clean,” can help save the planet. It is a good stepping stone as we work on ramping up solar and hydro and wind energies, but it’s not the solution. It’s not even a solution.
You can learn more about green energy myths here, but ultimately, truly clean energy is the way of the future. It pays itself off, it quickly becomes carbon neutral (and carbon negative), and it is actually a solution for climate change.
I don’t think we need to ban natural gas right now (which I’ve seen talked about in a few articles during my research). Banning natural gas at this point in time would mean we would have to fall back on the more polluting coal and oil and rely on them heavily once again. That being said, I don’t think we need to keep drilling and keep opening new fossil fuel drilling operations.
I do think we need to change the name. I think the marketing around it is genius, honestly, but also evil. Big Oil knows exactly what they’re doing with the word “natural” and the half-phrase “it burns clean.” So, we can at least spread this message: natural gas IS a fossil fuel and it does NOT burn clean. It still produces harmful methane and CO2 emissions which are key GHGs that are making climate change happen.
Other than that, write to your governments. Tell them that you want them to actually break up with fossil fuels, not just the worst of them. Tell them you want them to take climate change seriously and invest in actual green energy solutions. You can learn more about letter writing here:
- How to find your congressmen
- How to write effective letters to politicians
- Letters I have written and responses I got
And check out this video on how to avoid supporting big oil even if you drive a car.
Thanks for reading along, I’ll see you next week! Until then, remember that your small actions make a big impact in the long run
Emma
