Role of Natural Gas as a Clean Energy Benchmark

As the energy and pollution awareness campaigns have developed a widespread opinion about harmful and toxic effects of fossil fuels, the need of a safer alternate has emerged globally for a safer, cleaner and reliable source. Natural gas gives us a solution as a clean energy benchmark.

In this study we will review how safer is natural gas among fossil fuels and how it supports the renewable energy sources as a most reliable backup.

Scientifically, not all fossil fuels create pollution and damage the human as well as environmental health. While zero-emissions sources of energy are most ideal on the path to a more sustainable world, natural gas being a cleaner alternate is relatively better than other fossil fuels.

As we move towards future oriented renewables, natural gas sometimes serves as a bridge or transitional fuel. And indeed, relative to other fossil fuels, natural gas is a cleaner burning fossil fuel.

Natural gas by this phenomenon is the benchmark to clean energy. It produces significantly less carbon dioxide than other fossil fuels like coal and oil, making it a cleaner alternate while still providing reliable energy generation, particularly when combined with intermittent renewable sources like solar and wind power. Natural gas here acts as a backup when needed due to its flexible operation capabilities and existing infrastructure more specifically throughout United States.

Future Forecasts of Electricity Demand in US and Natural Gas as Clean Alternate

Natural gas is a vital energy source for the United States, powering and heating homes and offices, generating electricity, fueling vehicles and is also used to make chemicals and materials. It is quite abundantly available in US and therefore is cost effective, reduces reliance in fossil fuels and has lesser environmental impacts.

The electric power sector is the largest natural gas consuming sector where 40% of generation is currently being made from natural gas.

Data centers, servers and other computing equipment for data storage and networking that supports operations and artificial intelligence (AI), forecast as much as 25% increase in demand of all U.S. electricity consumption by 2030. On average, one data center requires 50 times the electricity of a typical office building.

As energy needs in United States are increasing, this indisputable fact remains that natural gas is currently the most affordable, reliable and clean energy source that should serve as the benchmark by which all other energy sources are measured.

United States is the world leader in lowering carbon emissions, largely because of increased use of natural gas for electricity generation and certain social and technological changes most specifically related to decarbonizing the industrial sectors.

In United States, carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation have declined 61% mostly due to increased use of natural gas over other sources like coal, according to The American Gas Association. Additionally, 133 new natural gas-fired power plants are being added to the nation's grid by 2030.

While there are many options for energy, including nuclear, oil and coal, natural gas stands as the most suitable choice when discussing cost, reliability and environmental safety.

Role of Natural Gas in Power Generation

In United States, renewable energy sources are impacting natural gas generation in last decade. The growth of renewables in the grid, compounded by the increased electrification of energy demand, will expose the grid to the risks of an intermittent renewables supply to meet growing power demand.

As a result, in the coming decades, a fully dispatchable backup energy supply will be required to ensure the reliability of the power grid. In the absence of breakthroughs in long-duration energy storage, natural gas, which can be implemented at scale could be the cheapest and lowest-carbon alternate for this role.

Demand for gas is more crucial and potentially much higher on peak-demand days when intermittent renewables are at low generation levels. However, current gas infrastructure was not designed and sized to deliver the high gas volumes that will be needed on these peak-demand days in the future. Infrastructure upgrades and new market mechanisms are current new challenges to maintain uninterrupted supply of natural gas that consumers will need.

How Natural Gas Supports in Reduction of CO2 Emissions in US

In last 20 years, the United States has reduced its energy-related CO2 emissions by about 18 percent. A switch from coal to natural gas in many sectors is the major reason for a significant portion of this reduction. The use of natural gas in the electric power sector has increased by more than 100 percent in last 20 years. This shift from coal to natural gas for power generation resulted in an estimated reduction of 532 million metric tons in CO2 emissions over the same period.

Currently, United States has increased the decarbonization impact through natural gas, alongside other power supplies, by continuing coal-to-gas switching, implementing carbon capture and storage (CCS) solutions on existing and future gas-fired power installations, supporting blue hydrogen production, and accelerating reliance on renewables.

Upgrading Infrastructure for Natural Gas

Although, the natural gas infrastructure in North America including pipelines and storage facilities has grown in last few decades, the capacity of the natural gas system will have to be increased to allow it to deliver on peak-demand days when renewables cannot generate at full capacity, including areas currently not impacted by insufficient pipeline capacity.

However, expanding this gas infrastructure capacity and maintaining the existing gas infrastructure will require new investments, though the capacity will be utilized at a much lower rate. The regulatory and market mechanisms that will support such investments are the key unlocks in this regard.

Addressing this challenge requires collaboration across the entire value chain where gas producers, pipeline operators, utilities or power producers, regional transition organizations, policy makers recognise that the solution needs to balance out the three imperatives of decarbonization, affordability, and reliability.

For more on this topic and about technological challenges towards green energy please read our blog.

The Benefits of Natural Gas as a Clean Energy Source

Natural gas has several environmental benefits being a clean energy source. Primarily, it produces less carbon emissions compared to other fossil fuels like coal and oil and applied in many applications, such as heating buildings, generating electricity, and powering vehicles. Secondly, natural gas is relatively abundant and readily available, making it an easily accessible source of energy used around the world.

1. Natural gas produces 50-60% lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to other fossil fuels. It also emits significantly less sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter which improves air quality.

2. It is an excellent, reliable and quick backup source for renewable energy specially when wind and solar energy are not available.

3. Natural gas is energy efficient as modern natural gas power plants can convert up to 60% of the energy in natural gas into electricity.

4. It is an alternative fuel for vehicles that can reduce emissions. For vehicles it is used in compressed (Compressed Natural Gas and Liquefied Natural Gas) form.