Full Title: Basic Research Needs for the Hydrogen Economy
Author(s): Natural Resources Defense Council
Publisher(s): Natural Resources Defense Council
Publication Date: March 1, 2012
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
Methane is valuable as a fuel, but it is also a greenhouse gas at least 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 100 year period, with even greater relative impacts over shorter periods. Methane makes up as much as 90 percent of natural gas. Currently the United States loses at least 2 to 3 percent of its total natural gas production each year when gas is leaked or vented to the atmosphere. Natural gas is routinely allowed to escape into the atmosphere from oil and gas industry equipment and processes. This is a waste of a valuable fuel resource as well as a source of local pollution and climate change.