Why is natural gas cleaner than coal

And switching from coal to natural gas for energy production does reduce the total greenhouse effect on a scale of years, the standard scientists use in calculations like these. But the climate benefits of such a switch are not as clear as the switch from coal to natural gas.

Taking into account methane leaks from extraction all the way down the pipeline to the pump may actually make natural gas less climate friendly than diesel. For example, burning natural gas results in less air pollution and less reliance on imported petroleum. For natural gas to assert itself as a more environmentally friendly fuel, though, the industry is going to have to plug up its leaky system.

Companies may find it worth their while to do so, and not simply for the climate benefits. Less leakage equals more profit, and plugging just a few of the biggest leaks could easily increase income, Brandt says.

Natural gas production can also produce large volumes of contaminated water. This water requires proper handling, storage, and treatment so that it does not pollute land and other waters. Natural gas wells and pipelines often have engines to run equipment and compressors, which produce air pollutants and noise. In areas where natural gas is produced at oil wells but is not economical to transport for sale or contains high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide a toxic gas , it is burned flared at well sites.

Natural gas flaring produces CO2, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and many other compounds, depending on the chemical composition of the natural gas and on how well the natural gas burns in the flare.

However, flaring is safer than releasing natural gas into the air and results in lower overall greenhouse gas emissions because CO2 is not as strong a greenhouse gas as methane. Source: Bureau of Land Management public domain. Advanced technologies like satellites, global positioning systems, remote sensing devices, and 3-D and 4-D seismic technologies make it possible to discover natural gas reserves while drilling fewer wells.

New drilling and natural gas recovery technologies significantly reduce the land area that is disturbed to develop oil and gas resources. Horizontal and directional drilling techniques make it possible to produce more natural gas from a single well than in the past, so fewer wells are necessary to develop a natural gas field.

Hydraulic fracturing commonly called hydrofracking, fracking, or fracing of shale, sandstone, and carbonate rock formations is opening up large reserves of natural gas that were previously too expensive to develop. Fracking involves pumping liquids under high pressure into a well to fracture the rock, which allows natural gas to escape from the rock. Producing natural gas with this technique has some effects on the environment:. Because a natural gas leak could cause an explosion, strict government regulations and industry standards are in place to ensure the safe transportation, storage, distribution, and use of natural gas.

Because processed natural gas has no odor, natural gas companies add a strong, rotten egg-like smelling substance called mercaptan to natural gas so that people can smell leaks. Source: U. Environmental Protection Agency, Inventory of U. Natural gas explained Natural gas and the environment.

In transportation, burning natural gas does produce some nitrogen oxides NO x , which are precursors to smog, but at much lower levels than gasoline and diesel used for motor vehicles. Reductions in these emissions translate into public health benefits, as these pollutants have been linked to problems such as asthma, bronchitis, lung cancer, and heart disease for hundreds of thousands of people. Each fossil fuel has a different life cycle. And, each fossil fuel contributes greenhouse gases at different stages of its life cycle.

Likewise, at different stages, every fossil fuel contributes to global warming to a different degree. The total environmental impact of coal is greater than that of any other fossil fuel. Especially with respect to open-pit coal mining, the environmental impact of coal cannot be overstated.

From the destruction of forests, devastation of water quality, and the irreversible changing of landscape, coal mining has a massive impact on the environment. With respect to carbon emissions, coal mining and the burning of coal account for a greater sum than any other fuel. For example, when natural gas is burned , it produces 45 percent less carbon dioxide than coal, 30 percent less than oil and 15 percent less than wood. During combustion, it produces heat, water vapor and carbon dioxide.

The U. Energy Information Administration notes that most of the natural gas consumed in the United States is produced domestically. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers CAPP notes that appliances, vehicles and power plants are highly efficient when powered by natural gas.