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Natural gas is releases half as much CO2 as coal, and methane is roughly 28x worse as a greenhouse gas and other natural gases sink. Natural gas would be better
by Aunche 6y ago
Natural gas is releases half as much CO2 as coal, and methane is roughly 28x worse as a greenhouse gas and other natural gases sink. Natural gas would be better than coal as long as if we aren't leaking 1/28th of our natural gas. That would be an awful lot of wasted money, so I'm inclined to believe that natural gas is still better than coal.
- ljf 6y agoHere in the UK we waste about 20 percent of all the treated water through leaks (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/may/11/water-companies-losing-vast-amounts-through-leakage-raising-drought-fears https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/may/11/water-co...) Looks like somewhere around 3 percent of gas is lost through the system - is this leaks or other issues the article asks: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-much-natural-gas-leaks/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-much-natural-... That is only when gas has reached the supplier. Don't forget gas is also lost when drilling and also lost in huge amounts when drilling for oil. Gut feel, from the limited research I've done I would guess losses as far above the 1/28th sadly.
- Aunche 6y agoIt looks like most of the leaks described in the second article are related to the gas utilities rather than gas used to generate electricity. I'd like to imagine that it's a lot cost effective and easier to make sure a big pipe that goes to a power plant is not leaking rather than a thousand small pipes that go to homes. It's an eye opening finding either way though.