Natural Gas to the Rescue?

by Katherine Gustafson · 2009-12-22 06:00:00 UTC
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Will natural gas save us? According to a new report by the Associated Press, gas is relatively clean, relatively cheap and totally abundant right here at home. A decade ago, we thought gas was running low, but thanks to horizontal drilling technology that is allowing us to tap hard-to-reach gas in shale formations, we now have so much gas that the price has plummeted to a seven-year low.

Now that it's so cheap, its an increasingly attractive option to fuel new power plants. While it is already widely used for home heating and cooking, it may eventually have a future as a petroleum replacement in vehicles. With cap-and-trade policies on the table, which will force industries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, cleaner-burning natural gas is looking like it could solve some very big problems.

Daniel Yergin, Pulitzer Prize winning author and chairman of IHS CERA, an energy consultancy told the AP that the increase in natural gas reserves represents an incredible opportunity. "This is domestic energy ... it's low carbon, it's low cost and it's abundant. When you add it up, it's revolutionary," he said.

So is natural gas all it seems to be? Or is it yet another bandwagon we will all regret jumping on in retrospect?

Photo courtesy of stock.xchng

Katherine Gustafson
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