Full Title: Updating the Facts: Emissions from Natural Gas Systems
Author(s): American Gas Association
Publisher(s): American Gas Association
Publication Date: April 1, 2014
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Description (excerpt):
Natural gas remains a fuel of choice for consumers because of its low cost, efficient end uses, and environmental attributes. This domestically produced energy source is poised to serve as a foundation fuel for the US economy for years to come.
This potential has focused public attention on how the increased use of natural gas can reduce the environmental footprint of our energy usage. The use of natural gas results in far less carbon dioxide than coal or oil for the same amount of beneficial energy derived, and natural gas technologies serve as an affordable complement to renewable energy. Better understanding of natural gas emissions released from production and delivery systems will further clarify how greater use of natural gas achieves all desired environmental benefits.
It reveals that the natural gas distribution systems have a small emissions footprint shaped by a declining trend. Using EPA estimates, only 0.24 percent of produced natural gas is emitted from distribution systems owned and operated by local natural gas utilities. These emissions have declined 22 percent since 1990 even as natural gas utility companies added 600,000 miles of pipeline to serve 17.5 million more customers, an increase of more than 30 percent in both cases. This exceptional record can be traced to safety as the top priority for gas utilities who continue to be vigilant and deeply committed to systematically upgrading infrastructure through risk-based integrity management programs.