Is Natural Gas the Answer?

What is natural gas?

• Made of a mixture of METHANE (CH4) and other gasses.

• Conventional Natural gas forms with oil wells or coal beds

• Natural Gas production has increased by 25% in the last 6 years

What is Natural Gas?

Formation of Unconventional Natural Gas

• Devonian shales (formed in inland seas during the Devonian Period – 350 million years ago)

Where is natural gas found in large concentrations?

• Domestic Supplies

Top 5 natural gas reserves:

1. Texas2. Louisiana3. Wyoming4. Oklahoma5. Pennsylvania

Where is natural gas found in large concentrations?

• Global Supplies

Top 5 natural gas reserves:

1. Russia2. Iran3. Qatar4. Turkmenistan5. United States

How do we extract it from the ground?

• Conventional Natural Gas

Drill down into layers of rock with domes of natural gas

Gas flows to surface, normally pressurized to increase gas flow

How do we extract it from the ground?

• Non-Conventional Natural Gas – “FRACKING”

High pressure liquid is forced into shale layers to crack the rocks

Sand is inserted to hold the cracks open

Methane flows to the surface

What are the environmental problems with extracting Natural Gas?

• Air pollution• Groundwater pollution• Land disruption• Explosions• Fires

What do we use natural gas

for besides electricity?

1. Heating2. Cooking fuel3. Vehicle Fuel (public busses)

What are the environmental problems with burning natural gas?

• Methane leaks are worse than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas

• Added carbon dioxide

• Burned off as waste

GasLand

Natural GasAdvantages

- Ample supplies- High Net Energy Yield- Low Cost- Less air pollution than other

fossil fuels- Lower carbon dioxide emissions

than other fossil fuels- Easily transported by pipeline- Low land use- Good fuel for fuel cells and gas

turbines

Disadvantages- Non-renewable resource- Releases carbon dioxide when burned- Government subsidies- Environmental costs not included in

market prices- Methane (greenhouse gas) can leak

from pipelines- Difficult to transfer from one country

to another- Can be shipped across ocean only as

LNG – highly explosive- Sometimes burned off and wasted at

wells because of low price or lack of pipeline