Why natural gas for CO{sub 2} and climate control?

Conference · Tue Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1996

OSTI ID:549595

Roose, T R ^[1]; Cowgill, R M ^[2]

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1. Gas Research Inst., Chicago, IL (United States). Environment and Safety
2. Radian International LLC, Austin, TX (United States)

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have suggested that increased use of natural gas is a possible strategy for reducing the potential for global warming. Carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) contributes as much to global warming as all other greenhouse gases combined. During combustion, natural gas generates less CO{sub 2} per unit of energy produced than either coal or oil. On the basis of the amount of CO{sub 2} emitted, the potential for global warming could be reduced by substituting natural gas to coal or oil. However, since natural gas is primarily methane, a potent greenhouse gas, these emissions could reduce natural gas`s inherent advantage of lower CO{sub 2} emissions. To address this issue and compare the fuels on an equivalent basis, it is necessary to account for emissions of all greenhouse gases throughout the fuel cycle of each fuel and to determine the impact of these gases on global warming. Gas Research Institute and EPA jointly funded a study to quantify methane emissions from the natural gas industry so that this information could be used as input to address the issue of the fuel switching strategy. The study found that the natural gas industry emitted 1.4% of natural gas production (314 Bscf of methane) to the atmosphere in 1992. Today, due to voluntary reductions from the gas industry, the percent leaked is even less. This 1992 amount has been analyzed over a broad range of global warming potentials, and the conclusion that fuel switching to natural gas reduces the potential for global warming is supported. The results of this study are presented in this paper.

• OSTI ID: 549595
• Report Number(s): CONF-960954--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

03 NATURAL GAS
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
AIR POLLUTION ABATEMENT
CARBON DIOXIDE
CLIMATIC CHANGE
FUEL SUBSTITUTION
LEAKS
LIFE-CYCLE COST
METHANE
NATURAL GAS