Increased Role For Natural Gas

According to the New York Times, a report by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology states that natural gas will increasingly replace coal as a source of this country's energy over the next few decades. According to the report, natural gas will eventually make up 40% of the U.S. energy market, up from its current 20% share.

Some companies that make equipment for coal- and gas-fired generating stations say that the switch to gas from coal has already begun. One reason is that switching to gas will make it easier to meet air quality standards for conventional pollutants, like smog and mercury. Helping to facilitate the change are plentiful supplies of natural gas created by shale drilling.

T.Boone Pickens, the Texas oilman, said that the study paid too much attention to the electricity sector and not enough to using natural gas as a fuel for transportation. “You’ve got plenty of gas to do both,” he said.

The study noted that the only natural gas car sold by a major car company in the United States, the Honda GX, costs an extra $5,500, while the VW Passat TSI Eco-fuel, sold only in Europe, costs only $3,700 extra. Converting a gasoline vehicle to natural gas is also much more expensive here than in Europe, the report said, and it suggests that the reasons be examined.

High-mileage fleet vehicles, like taxis, could be economically converted to natural gas, the study said. But the recent history of natural gas vehicles in the United States suggests that buses and small delivery vehicles are more likely candidates for conversion than the great mass of privately owned vehicles.

Natural gas vehicles emit about three-quarters as much carbon dioxide per mile as gasoline-powered ones. The switch would not have a large impact on carbon — only about a ton per vehicle per year for a typical American car, according to the report.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/business/energy-environment/25natgas.html