A recent study has revealed that natural gas has the potential to match coal’s harmful environmental effects. Coal, one of the most prolific environmental polluters on the planet, is public enemy number one in our increasingly ecofriendly world.
After decades of running factories and keeping households lit, coal is being phased out and replaced with cleaner alternatives, such as solar and wind energy, which cause minimal pollution. However, long before solar and wind could even dream of replacing coal-fired energy, natural gas was a top contender to replace coal.
Natural gas-fired power plants produce less carbon dioxide compared to coal plants, making them a viable alternative for energy generation. And with countries such as Australia, Canada, the United States and Russia investing billions of dollars in mining and using natural gas, the substance was well on its way toward replacing coal, especially across Europe, before the Russia-Ukraine war upended the energy market.
However, the new study suggests that natural gas’s effect on the environment may be just as bad as coal if the effect of the entire natural gas sector is taken into account. According to a paper published in the journal “Environmental Research Letters,” minute amounts of methane escaping from natural gas reservoirs, pipelines and production facilities can add up to match emissions from the coal industry.
Natural gas mainly comprises methane, a potent greenhouse gas that causes a significantly higher environmental warming effect compared to carbon dioxide. Prior research had revealed that natural gas infrastructure is leaking more methane than known, and the research team behind the recent study wanted to determine the environmental impact of these leaks.
Senior principal at the environmental group RMI and study coauthor Deborah Gordon explains that even “very small” methane leaks from natural gas infrastructure rivaled total emissions from coal. Due to methane’s unparalleled heating effect, leaks of as low as 0.2% of the total methane in a country’s natural gas system were enough to match coal emissions.
The paper notes that current methane leaks are estimated to be from 0.65% to as much as 66.2%, suggesting that natural gas could be causing a significant and previously unaccounted-for heating effect.
Even though the natural gas industry allowed the U.S. to cut carbon dioxide emissions from energy production by 35%, the natural gas ecosystem leaks methane at virtually every step of the value chain and cancels out much of the emissions savings.
American Petroleum Institute’s Dustin Meyer said in a recent statement that the natural gas industry is working to reduce methane emissions from the value chain and bring methane emissions in the U.S. even lower.
That said, coal remains a priority for elimination if climate change is to be slowed, and major coal companies such as Arch Resources Inc. (NYSE: ARCH) need to reconsider their business models if they are to remain relevant in the coming decades.
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