Natural Gas: One of Our Most Prolific (and Ignored) Resources
permalink
A recent report by the Potential Gas Committee found that the United States holds up to 35 percent more natural gas reserves than previously thought. What does this mean for a country in the midst of a debate on how to address the effects of climate change?
As Marc Gunther writes this week on GreenBiz.com, “in the energy and climate change debate, environmentalists are for the most part united in their feelings about coal (very bad), gasoline (avoid “gas guzzlers”), nuclear energy (scary), hydropower (small is better than big), wind (good unless you worry about birds), solar thermal (nifty) and rooftop solar PV (even niftier).”
But when it comes to natural gas, very few have strong feelings about this Other Fossil Fuel.
For an energy source as prolific as natural gas, which provides more U.S. energy than coal, nuclear, and all renewable sources combined, you’d think there would be some type of consensus. But no. Even the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) logo neglects to have a natural gas symbol, despite have one for oil, wind, hydro and nuclear. (more…)