Natural Gas - Good Source of Energy - Essay Example

Natural Gas: A Good Source of Energy Natural gas is one of the most important sources of energy. There are a variety of opinions surrounding naturalgas. Natural gas is a fossil fuel just like coal and oil. It forms much below the earth’s surface. Natural gas primarily constitutes methane which is the lightest hydrocarbon. Natural gas neither has odor nor color and yields a lot of energy when burned, which makes it a good source of energy for all sorts of domestic and industrial purposes. However, natural gas is not renewable since it is a fossil fuel. The International Energy Agency (IEA) published a World Energy Outlook report in the year 2011 in which, the production of natural gas was estimated to increase by 50 per cent over the next two and a half decades. The report said, “Natural gas displaces coal and to a lesser extent oil, driving down emissions, but it also displaces some nuclear power, pushing up emissions. This puts emissions on a long-term trajectory consistent with stabilizing the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at around 650 parts per million CO2 equivalent, suggesting a long-term temperature rise of over 3.5 [degrees Celsius]” (“Gas is not”). While a range of opinions exist for and against natural gas, it is overall a good source of energy. Natural gas is a good source of energy not only because it is in abundance in the US, but also because it can be transported affordably. Natural gas is a clean energy alternative because the process of its burning is cleaner compared to other fossil fuels. While burning, natural gas does not emit high amount of such harmful emissions as carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, or carbon monoxide. Burning of natural gas also does not produce any particulates or ash. Although natural gas is not as clean as solar energy or wind energy, yet it can be considered as a stop-gap energy alternative because of its cost-effectiveness, abundance, and simplicity of use while the society transits to other sources of energy. The amount of carbon released into the atmosphere by natural gas is half as much as the amount that is released as a result of burning of coal. The US provides evidence of a success story as emissions declined to a 20-year low in the start of the year 2012. Although the decline in emissions can also be attributed to certain other factors like a shift to renewables and energy efficiency, the decline was at least, in part, because of a transition from the burning of coal to the use of shale gas. Similarly, “In countries like Poland and China where there is heavy dependence on coal power, shale gas has the potential to reduce national emissions by displacing coal” (“Good or Bad”). Many arguments against natural gas are also raised by scientists. According to certain scientists, although the process of burning of natural gas is cleaner compared to other fossil fuels, yet methane is generated in significant amount into the environment from the pipelines and wells of natural gas. Methane is among the main greenhouse gases which trap heat into the atmosphere of the earth. Natural gas is also considered a bad source of energy because newer methods of its mining from the deeper deposits and harder rocks like fracking and hydraulic fracturing are controversial. Fracking involves the use of high pressure to force the fluids underground for distorting the shale ricks and to extract the natural gas deposits located deep inside the earth. A lot of methane is released into the atmosphere in this process and this also pollutes the water supplies. Natural gas finds use in the fueling of logistics, but there are better alternatives than natural gas e.g. electricity; “Just as with biofuels, in which it was more energy efficient to burn biomass for power generation and use the electricity to power the cars than to convert it to biofuel, research at Rice University is finding it is more efficient to feed natural gas into power plants and power vehicles with electricity than with natural gas” (Jaffe). There also exists a middle way in between the two opposite perspectives on natural gas as a source of energy. Natural gas is transported to the different parts of world in the pipelines. Natural gas can be stored and shipped economically and without the pipelines in the liquefied form. To liquefy natural gas, it is cooled down and most compounds except methane are removed from it. This transforms the natural gas into a liquid whose weight is half the weight of water and whose volume is lesser compared to the volume of the natural gas in gas form. Warming the liquefied natural gas transforms it into a gas again so that it can be used. The good points of natural gas are too many to undermine its importance. Natural gas is already being widely used for domestic as well as industrial purposes all over the world and its use is likely to increase with the passage of time. To conclude, natural gas is overall a good source of energy. There are a lot of opinions surrounding natural gas, some declaring it a good source of energy while others suggesting against its use. The reality is that the plus points of natural gas are so many that they outnumber its demerits. Although electricity might be a better source of fueling vehicles than natural gas as is suggested by the opponents of natural gas, the operational limitations of electric vehicles should not be ignored. As a result of this, demand for cost-effective internal combustion fuels remains high. While some demerits of natural gas cannot be denied, natural gas can be considered as a good source of energy not only because it is in abundance and is easy to transport from one place to another particularly in the liquefied form, but also because it releases substantially lesser greenhouse gases into the atmosphere when burned compared to the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere with the burning of coal. Works Cited: “Gas is not clean energy.” IEA World Energy Outlook. 2011. Web. 12 March 2014. . “Good or Bad: Shale Gas and Climate Change.” Natural Gas Europe. 16 Aug. 2013. Web. 12 March 2014. . Jaffe, Amy M. “Natural Gas Vehicles: Good or Bad for Climate?” 2 March 2014. Web. 12 March 2014. . Read More