beegdawg007

Is There Enough Natural Gas?

Fitz, there is little question that the US has enough NG to swap out a lot of vehicles to NG from gasoline. Remember however, in regards to CO2, which seems to be one of your concernes, NG is not a free ride. The CO2 in a million BTUs of NG is 35% less than petroleum and 45% less than coal, but it is not free of CO2.

As for EIA estimates of NG, I am certain that the estimate is way below the actual amount simply because we have had no reason to really look for more Ng. Also, Canada has a lot of NG and very few people.

Price wise, compared to gasoline, NG is a heck of a deal. Considiring that 1 m BTUs of energy from NG typically costs (delivered) $7 to $15, and that It takes 7 gallons of gasoline to produce 1M BTUS.

However, as for replacing coal in power plants, that would be enormously expensive. 1 m BTUs from coal cost less than $2.00, while that same energy from NG would cost $7 to $15. If the goal is to reduce overall CO2, the smartest thing to do IMHO would be to focus on replacing as much petroleum with NG as possible first because that would both reduce CO2 and move us toward energy independance. I personally do not think that man made CO2, now at only 1 part per 10,000 parts of atmosphere, is or can ever be a problem. But, if you are concerned primarily about CO2, I say convert transportation first and second, use NG in power plants to supplement coal burning. Many power plants already have the abiltity to switch between the two. If we strive for an electric infrastructure system which uses both fuels in every power plant, the competition between those fuels would serve to hold a lid on the price of both.

Also realize that niether China nor India have significant supplies of NG to rely on NG to provide electricity and heat. Niether of those countries are going to stop using coal. Since 90% of all ""future CO2 from coal"" over the next 20 years (EIA numbers) will come from developing countries, eliminating America's use of coal will accomplish little in the way of world wide CO2 reduction. Do some more research into CO2, and I think you'll find that the issue is but a red herring. Water vapor is the greenhouse gas which is responsible for 95% of the greenhouse effect. The steam being emitted from power plants will do more damage than will the CO2. Total atmosperic CO2 is now only 4 parts in 10,000 and three of those were put there by mother nature. www.petitionproject.org/