There are more than natural gas plants in the US that were built in or before Even older than me! Utilities are currently incentivized to build precisely those big, capital-intensive assets.
Yet dozens of new natural gas pipelines, power plants, and export terminals are in some stage of planning. The US is on a natural gas building binge. The more we build in coming years, the more we will have to abandon later. All of them acknowledge the imperative for the US to completely decarbonize by Inslee targets and sooner if possible , per the IPCC.
Once that goal is in place, there is no space for expansion of natural gas infrastructure — wells, pipelines, export terminals, or power plants. That circle cannot be squared. Rather, natural gas, like coal, must be phased out of the electricity system as rapidly as practically possible, and as many energy uses as possible must be electrified as fast as possible. The battle against coal was helped along by the market. Natural gas will not go as quietly; its economic footprint is much larger.
Oil and gas companies have considerably more political clout than coal companies. No candidate should get away with claiming otherwise. Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment: to empower through understanding. Financial contributions from our readers are a critical part of supporting our resource-intensive work and help us keep our journalism free for all.
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Fracking well head and pumps, in Texas. OCI If we burn the fossil fuels we are already exploiting, we will use up the 2-degree budget. OCI BNEF also does yearly LCOE analysis and has found the same thing: The relentless decline of solar and wind costs has made these technologies the cheapest sources of new bulk electricity in all major economies, except Japan.
OCI responds with three arguments. OCI Wind and solar plants coupled with battery storage — which can compete directly with peakers — are getting cheaper. Existing US natural gas pipelines. Delivered Fridays. Thanks for signing up! Check your inbox for a welcome email. Email required. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Notice and European users agree to the data transfer policy. As another decade ends, change is in the air.
Through our annual release of the Global Carbon Budget , we recently reported that fossil CO 2 emissions rose by one sixth during the decade, ending with our estimate for of Is it good news, the start of a transition away from fossil fuels, or is it simply bad news, another record year of fossil carbon dioxide emissions? Increased natural gas and oil use are driving the increase in carbon dioxide emissions and are outpacing slight declines from global coal use.
Oil use around the world has been rising steadily at about a percent and a half per year for the last five or six years. Natural gas use is surging at almost twice that rate, aided by the boom in liquefied natural gas LNG that is connecting global gas markets. Emissions from natural gas use rose almost million metric tons of CO 2 in , and were responsible for two thirds of the global emissions increase. In the United States and Europe, natural gas is replacing coal in electricity generation.
Coal consumption in both regions dropped at least 10 percent in Coal use in the U. Most of the lost U. In the United Kingdom, the birthplace of the industrial revolution, coal-fired electricity has almost disappeared and now supplies only 5 percent of power.
In both countries, the replacement of coal by natural gas and renewables is reducing both CO 2 emissions and air pollution from particulates, mercury, sulfur and lead—saving lives as a result. While the U. In , its coal use is expected to climb about a percent at the same time its natural gas use grows 9 percent and oil use climbs 7 percent or so.
In some places, natural gas is even replacing low- and no-carbon fuels. Before the Fukushima disaster in , Japan produced almost a third of its electricity from nuclear power. By late , it had closed all of its reactors, at least temporarily.
Today only nine of 40 or so Japanese reactors are back to producing electricity. What fuels filled the gap? According to The Wilderness Society , fracking has been known to poison or pollute groundwater and surface water sources, threaten local wildlife, and in some cases, cause explosions, fires, and even earthquakes.
Government regulations are weak and the process itself is susceptible to dangerous accidents. When flammable gases are involved, the effects of an unforeseen accident can be devastating.
Natural gas is often touted as the solution to other, more polluting fossil fuels like coal or oil. ConocoPhillips , a natural gas company, will tell you that when natural gas is burned, it produces mostly carbon dioxide and water vapor, which is the same thing we humans produce when we exhale. According to Reuters , power plants that run on natural gas provide enough continuous electricity that it could potentially be used as a stop-gap for intermittent renewable sources like wind or solar power.
Natural gas is a non-renewable resource that comes with many consequences — the extraction and production processes are destructive, and using it is just as harmful. That said, it's important to be aware of these negative qualities as we strive to find better, cleaner energy solutions.
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