As we face serious environmental and economic ramifications from the Gulf Oil spill, more people are taking a closer look at the benefits of natural gas. Obama's hotly anticipated climate change bill by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will include tax credits for natural gas fuels for trucks and manufacturers. Is natural gas America's savior or a transitional fuel source that will tide us over until we become a cleantech nation awash in viable wind, solar and biofuel solutions?
The development of natural gas properties in the United States ensures our country's greater energy independence from geopolitical strife and provides high paying energy sector jobs and prosperous communities. As the CEO of an energy company that is actively tapping our country's natural gas reserves, even I don't think natural gas is the answer to all our country's energy needs. I simply believe that natural gas is a great, long-term bridge energy solution that provides an important part of our country's energy equation.
America is awash in natural gas discoveries including Louisiana's Haynesville Shale and new fields in Mississippi, New Mexico and Wyoming. As we engage in fruitful drilling of our natural gas resources, we should also build up our renewable and alternative energy technologies. Why? While our country has enough natural gas reserves to fuel Americans for many generations to come, we need to keep our eye on the ultimate prize -- creating environmentally sound energy solutions that are not tied to natural resources. Americans needs to take a leadership role in developing alternative energy solutions.
Anyone who has visited a major city in China is troubled by the quality of the air and water. Many people don't realize that a promising green technology industry has arisen in China to improve the quality of the air and the water. With a country population of 1.3 billion people, China has daunting energy requirements. As China's global stature grows, the Chinese government has started to impose stricter environmental standards which are becoming a priority issue for industries, businesses and municipalities. The Chinese government's economic stimulus package includes over $36 billion for environmental projects such as waste water treatment and renewable energy facilities. The benefits of China's government-backed stimulus is that a bumper crop of Chinese companies have emerged to address the country's significant environmental hazards accrued from their multi-decade role as the "world's largest factory" which was contaminated from sewage and other industrial waste products.
As a proud American and energy executive, I would like to see our country rally behind every environmentally sound energy solution that is home-grown. Let's push away from the Mideast table and the high-priced oil it puts on our plates which keeps our country tied to unstable political factions and terrorist regimes. As T. Boone Pickens says on the Pickens Plan site, "in addition to putting our security in the hands of potentially unfriendly and unstable foreign nations, we spent $475 billion on foreign oil in 2008 alone. That's money taken out of our economy and sent to foreign nations, and it will continue to drain the life from our economy for as long as we fail to stop the bleeding."
Let's roll out our old-fashioned American gumption and national pride and keep focused on delivering energy solutions developed by Americans for Americans. Why are we allowing other nations to outpace us in passing rich economic stimulus plans that ensure a focus on renewable energy when we have the resources, the know-how and the need?
More than 70% of US imported oil is used in transportation. Of all of the domestic energy resources available (domestic oil, natural gas, nuclear, coal, wind, solar, hydro, geo-thermal and bio fuels), only natural gas is easily used as a transportation fuel today. Natural gas produces around half the greenhouse gasses for the same amount of energy used in oil.
Natural gas is more than 50 percent cleaner than coal and can serve as the foundation for power generation and the expansion of renewable energy sources. The New York Times reported that that "natural gas could emerge as a critical transition fuel that could help to battle global warming." Since about 98 percent of natural gas consumed in the United States is produced in North America, increased use results in more jobs and economic growth.
I'm an American businessman committed to ensuring a brighter future for our nation's children. I grew up hearing and believing that America is the richest and most entrepreneurial country in the world. In addition to talking the talk, we need to walk the walk toward real change.
Follow Michael J. Newport on Twitter: www.twitter.com/MainlandInc
The issue of Hemp’s true potential has been virtually ignored by the mainstream media but if one does a search on the Internet, an abundance of information on the truth can be found. One estimate claims that if just 6% of the land in America was dedicated to growing Hemp, we could produce enough biofuel to cover our energy needs.
When it comes to deriving fuel from organic matter the key words are biomass & cellulose and when it comes to the percentage of biomass – cellulose and the tonnage per acre, Hemp beats out all other plants. Depending on the reports cited Hemp provides from 4 to 50 even a 100 times the cellulose of corn, sugar cane and other matter used for fuel.
During World War II, the Department of Agriculture mounted a campaign urging farmers to grow Hemp for the war effort and produced a short film entitled “Hemp for Victory.†Yet after the war, Hemp was once again banned as a legal crop.
Hemp is the Green Bullet that can put America back on the path to prosperity.
For energy, we should not use the any crop directly from the land,
but only waste should be used for bio fuels, biochar in particular, so as not to compete with food.
So that Hemp product would eventually wear out and be converted to energy and fuel.
fossil fuel industry has had this country by the throat for 150 years....time to give them the boot.....
What we have is shale and coal deposits that can be fracked into giving up some gas. Not natural by a long shot.
If you gas folks can prove that you methods and chemicals do not contaminate of otherwise threaten the environment
Fracked gas,
not "natural gas",
may be an option.
But so far, so terrible: contaminated water tables, earthquakes, and secret chemicals pumped into the ground.
US estimated gas reserves 1747 trillion cu ft of which only 267 is shale ie fracked gas.
http://www.naturalgas.org/overview/resources.asp
Killing us more slowing with dangerous radon gas spewing NG plant producing a bit less GHG's than coal is not a global warming solution I'd buy into. An NG plant just killed 6 people back east.
Still it is useful as a transition vehicle fuel as we convert from fossils to nuclear power.
Your link,
375 "undiscovered" that is: wild @$$ guess.
220 "Inferred" = educated guess.
644 TCF "Unconventional Gas Recovery" = FRACKING.
Thanks for the link.
Seems with the many new nuclear builds near completion in Asia, some of them the American designed AP-1000 reactor, real nuclear construction costs are headed shortly to $1B/Gw leaving plenty of cash to convert the US off fossil fuel. To do it, we'd need 2500 gigawatts of nukes at $2500B financed by ending our payments to our friends at Big Oil/Coal for $600B in crude, $100B in natural gas and $75B in coal. Could be all done ten years from now.
If we convert all our natural gas power plant and heating applications first we will free that $100B in current gas usage, exactly enough to replace all our gas and diesel use with CNG auto fuel, and NG derived methanol and dimethyl ether. The last two would replace ethanol in current E85 flex fuel vehicles and diesel in trucks and locomotives.
As we switch to electric vehicles, and enough nuclear capacity is available off peak nuclear produced methane or methanol would fuel the remaining non electric vehicles.
Mass produced conversion kits and home fill stations would quickly become available.
T Boone Pickens makes a 200% profit selling it around in my town for $3 a gallon at some gas stations.
Politicians in Utah kicked Pickens out of town and sell it there for the same $1 a gallon home cost at local Utah gas stations.
While it burns more cleanly than gasoline and coal, the air emissions generated during mining of this product are in gross amounts. Gross as in large and yucky.
Natural Gas Powerplants are already supplanting coal plants (many coal plants were put on hold for fear of climate control laws) and can supply the additional energy needed for electric vehicles. Natural Gas will play an important role for a long time, but it will most likely not succeed gasoline as the next singular automotive energy source.
On second thought, the BloomBox (single structure size) is another good use of gas while we get off fossil fuels altogether.
Big Energy had its century. It's time for democratically owned solutions. I am just as opposed to being enslaved to Pickens as to Canada (where we get almost all our "imported oil") as to Chevron Solar as to BP "Bright Source" as to Sempra, Cogentrix, or otherwise.