[MCN] Well, duh : Confirmed, yet again : Natural gas "cleaner" than coal, until we burn lots of it

[Lance Olsen]

Salon December 13, 2019

Natural gas surpasses coal in carbon emissions
Better than coal, but not by much: efforts to market natural gas as "green" may be part of the problem

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But as Michael Mann, a distinguished professor of Atmospheric Science and Meteorology, told Salon via email: "The solution to a problem created by fossil fuels cannot be a fossil fuel."
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https://www.salon.com/2019/12/13/natural-gas-surpasses-coal-in-carbon-emissions/ <https://www.salon.com/2019/12/13/natural-gas-surpasses-coal-in-carbon-emissions/>

Excerpt, opening paragraphs only

Recent estimates produced by the Global Carbon Project <https://www.globalcarbonproject.org/index.htm>,  an academic consortium, detailed an unexpected story regarding carbon dioxide emissions in the United States: carbon emissions from coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, are on a steady decline, and carbon emissions from natural gas now surpass coal. The new data adds fuel to a heated debate about the role of supposedly-clean natural gas.

According to the data, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the U.S. from natural gas are projected to increase by 3.5 percent from 2018 to 2019. For comparison, carbon dioxide emissions from coal were down by 10.5 percent.  Oil is still the top emitter in the United States.

“Coal use dropped another ten percent this year and is down by half since 2005. Cheaper natural gas and solar power are gaining market share,” Rob Jackson, a professor of Earth system science in Stanford’s School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences <https://earth.stanford.edu/>, who contributed to the report, explained to Salon via email. “But more than half of our natural gas goes to industry and homes for heating and more, not for electricity.”

“These uses are growing rapidly, increasing fossil fuel emissions, not decreasing them,” he added.Overall, global carbon emissions are expected to reach 37 billion metric tons this year, another record high, meaning carbon dioxide pollution is higher than it has ever been in Earth's recent history. If the world is to meet the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, emissions would drop sharply.


While the rate of growth of carbon emissions has slowed, carbon emissions continue to increase. Natural gas consumption is a contributor to that increase, experts say — though granted, the increase would likely be even greater had much coal consumption not been supplanted by natural gas. The U.S. is currently <https://www.agriculture.com/news/business/the-us-becomes-the-worlds-largest-oil-and-natural-gas-producer> the largest oil and natural gas producer in the world, and energy companies are actively investing in natural gas. 

In a 2018 BP report, the company stated its commitment to finding and producing natural gas as the market expands. “BP is active in finding and producing gas, as well as its transport, storage and sale,” the report states <https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/business-sites/en/global/corporate/pdfs/sustainability/group-reports/bp-advancing-the-energy-transition.pdf>. “This puts us in a good position as the gas market grows and becomes increasingly competitive.”

But as Michael Mann, a distinguished professor of Atmospheric Science and Meteorology, told Salon via email: "The solution to a problem created by fossil fuels cannot be a fossil fuel."

Natural gas combustion emits carbon dioxide, albeit natural gas emits 50 to 60 percent less carbon dioxide than oil and coal. The drilling and extraction of natural gas, along with its transportation in pipelines, can cause methane leaks, methane being a stronger greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

BP claims to be taking measures to reduce methane emissions in its scheduled natural gas projects, but as an analysis by Oil Change International <http://priceofoil.org/content/uploads/2019/05/gasBridgeMyth_web-FINAL.pdf> explained: “There is no room for new fossil fuel development – gas included – within the Paris agreement goals.” The 10th Emissions Gap Report <https://www.unenvironment.org/resources/emissions-gap-report-2019> by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), released in November, stated that "countries collectively failed to stop the growth in global [greenhouse gas] emissions, meaning that deeper and faster cuts are now required."

End of excerpt
https://www.salon.com/2019/12/13/natural-gas-surpasses-coal-in-carbon-emissions/ <https://www.salon.com/2019/12/13/natural-gas-surpasses-coal-in-carbon-emissions/>

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“Research suggests that the scale of human population and the current pace of its growth contribute substantially to the loss of biological diversity. Although technological change and unequal consumption inextricably mingle with demographic impacts on the environment, the needs of all human beings—especially for food—imply that projected population growth will undermine protection of the natural world. 

"Numerous solutions have been proposed to boost food production while protecting biodiversity, but alone these proposals are unlikely to staunch biodiversity loss. An important approach to sustaining biodiversity and human well-being is through actions that can slow and eventually reverse population growth: investing in universal access to reproductive health services and contraceptive technologies, advancing women’s education, and achieving gender equality.”
 
Eileen Crist, Camilo Mora, Robert Engelman. The interaction of human population, food production, and biodiversity protection. Science 21 April 2017

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