Energy Exchange

Source: Pike Research

Last week, in a speech in Las Vegas, President Obama called for getting more natural gas vehicles (NGVs) on the road in the United States.  NGV proponents applauded the speech and immediately reiterated the conventional wisdom that because natural gas burns cleaner than gasoline or diesel, NGVs lead to reduced greenhouse gas emissions.  However, recent science shows that the conventional wisdom may not be right.

While it is clear that the actual combustion of natural gas is cleaner than the combustion of gasoline or diesel, there are other emissions associated with the production, delivery and use of those fuels.  Natural gas is essentially methane, a potent greenhouse gas.  Over 2o years, a pound of methane is 72 times more potent than a pound of carbon dioxide.  As natural gas is produced and piped across the country, there are plenty of opportunities for it to leak into the atmosphere. EPA estimates that leak rate to be somewhere between 2-3%, but the exact amount is the subject of much debate. 

What we do know is that whatever the percentage of methane that is lost to the atmosphere, it erodes the climate benefits of combusting natural gas.  In other words, the higher the leak rates the less the benefits.  If leakage is high enough, NGVs can actually be worse for climate for some period of time. A newly published study concluded that over 20 years, NGVs were worse for the climate than gasoline or diesel vehicles unless current leak rates are reduced.  With current leak rates, even after 100 years NGVs are no better for the climate than gasoline or diesel vehicles.

Because methane is more potent over shorter time frames, if we remove more methane now,  we can reap quick benefits for the climate system.  However, if we emit more methane now, it will have a greater negative impact on the climate system.  This may be precisely the outcome we get if we aren’t careful in how we proceed with NGVs.  Before large-scale policies encouraging NGVs are written into law, we should better understand the leak rate of methane from the natural gas supply and take actions to ensure it is low enough that putting more NGV on the road does not harm the climate. Understanding and reducing leak rates is critical to accepting NGVs as a legitimate GHG strategy. EDF is working to do this, but until we have better data and see an industry committed to reducing leaks, we will reserve judgment on whether the President’s call for accelerating NGVs is justified.

By: Drew Nelson, EDF’s Clean Energy Project Manager

Source: IEA

Yesterday the International Energy Agency (IEA) released its 2011 World Energy Outlook.  The report models expected demand for energy in three scenarios: a business as usual scenario, an aggressive policy scenario to cut greenhouse gas emissions and a middle of the road scenario.  As a result of this analysis, the report lays out some pretty eye-catching conclusions.  The conclusion that will likely receive the most press attention is summed up by the head of the IEA, who states:

“[by] 2015 over 90% of the permissible energy sector emissions [to avoid dangerous climate change]… will already be locked in [due to investments in carbon-based energy sources].  By 2017, 100%. We can still act in time to preserve a plausible path to a sustainable energy future; but each year the necessary measures get progressively tougher and viciously more expensive.”

In other words, we only have five years to make investments in the energy sector that avoid locking us into a future of dangerous climate change.  Any delay will be more expensive than taking action today.  Some of the best scientists, economists, and business officials who drafted and provided comments on this report are clear – NOW is the time to make the urgent investments needed in clean technologies like wind and solar as well as smart-grid technologies to deliver that clean energy to consumers.

However, another conclusion of the report caught our eye here in EDF’s energy program.  For the scenarios that were modeled, natural gas was “the only fossil fuel for which demand rises in all three” scenarios.  This highlights the important role that natural gas will play as an energy source no matter how aggressive policy-makers are in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.  Natural gas use will grow because deposits of “unconventional” sources of gas, like shale gas, are being discovered and drilled in almost every part of the globe.  The report finds that the share of unconventional gas production in North America is projected to rise so that there will be more “unconventional” gas in North America than “conventional.” 

This has broad implications.  Increased shale gas means greater energy security and jobs, but also potential increased impacts in the backyards of some of our most populous states.  There are significant public concerns with shale gas drilling: water quality, air pollution, noise, wildlife impacts and increased traffic are some of the most common.  New data is also showing that current methane gas leakage rates are cutting into the previously accepted greenhouse gas benefits of natural gas.

Yet many oil and gas industry representatives, rather than working with the public, are dismissive of these concerns.  At an industry gathering last week one representative referred to critics of shale gas as an “insurgency.”  This comes on the heels of a gas company announcing that it has employed former military officials who specialize in “psychological operations” in order to help “convince” communities of the merits of shale gas.  Many companies continue to refuse disclosing the chemicals they are pumping into the earth.  These actions do not build trust or goodwill and could endanger further growth of shale gas.  The IEA report states that growth in output of natural gas will “depend on the gas industry dealing successfully with the environmental challenges: a golden age of gas will require golden standards for production.” 

At EDF we are working to develop those golden standards and ensure that shale gas is developed the right way in order to maximize the benefits of shale gas without sacrificing public health, environmental protection and safety.

By: Drew Nelson, EDF’s Clean Energy Project Manager

Yesterday, Bloomberg News produced a comprehensive article on shale gas and the hydraulic fracturing process used to tap it.  The article provides some interesting history on how hydraulic fracturing has gone from a fringe technology practiced by only a few innovators to a widespread technology that, along with horizontal drilling, led to the current shale gas boom.  It also highlights the fact that expanding U.S. shale gas production will play an important role in the U.S. economy and provide potential wins to local economies, local air quality, and the global climate system.  However, as EDF President Fred Krupp points out in the article, these wins will only materialize IF the U.S. produces shale gas “in the right way.” 

The article highlights EDF’s role on the front lines of ensuring that shale gas is produced in the right way, which we believe should include, among others:

– Comprehensive disclosure of hydraulic fracturing chemicals (significantly, a Chesapeake Energy spokesman notes in the story that industry’s failure to disclose that information has led to a lack of trust by the public and slowed down industry efforts to expand drilling);
– Modernization of rules for well construction and operation;
– Systems-based management of wastes and water;
– State and national standards for improving air quality and reducing climate impacts; and
– Minimization of land use and community impacts from natural gas development.

It is important for the natural gas industry to realize that business as usual isn’t going to cut it and EDF will continue to work with responsible gas companies to get the rules right.  Stay tuned.