Monday, October 28, 2013

Nothing is perfect-Natural gas? - A guest post by Phasita Toonsiri









In Natural Gas Symposium 2013: session #1 (Protecting Our Atmosphere), benefits of natural gas were discussed in terms of energy security and environmental quality.
What are benefits of it? Natural gas was presented that it is one of the answers for issues of energy security and environment. Natural gas supports energy security since it abundant in many parts of the world and it can be used in variety tasks, for example to generate electricity, to heat home and to fuel cars. Also, natural gas is a highly efficient form of energy since there are only 10 percent of its usable energy lose before delivering to customers, but in others fuels, 70 percent of the total amount of fuels lose before reaching customers. Moreover, natural gas is presented that it is the cleanest burning fossil fuel. Its burning produces low levels of greenhouse gas such carbon dioxide compared with other fossil fuels.
Are there any evidence showing the drawbacks of natural gas? There are lots of articles that talked about its drawbacks. Natural gas is a fossil fuel; therefore, it is non-renewable energy. That means natural gas availability is finite. Another drawback is about environmental problem. Although natural gas burning emits less greenhouse gases, methane, which is one of greenhouse gases, escapes to the atmosphere during mining natural gas. Also, fracking, a method of mining natural gas, requires high-pressure water with additives to break shale rocks. This process is criticized that it pollutes water supplies. It seems like the problem does not come from natural gas, but comes from the method of mining natural gas.
Could natural gas be the answer to global energy demand nowadays?

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