What are the costs and benefits of using natural gas? What factors affect its supply and demand?

In 2011, the United States produced 8.5 million cubic feet of natural gas, a value of nearly $36 billion, from shale gas alone. As a result, the U.S. is now the world’s top manufacturer of natural gas. Imported gases compose merely 8 percent of total natural gas consumption in the United States. Since America does not rely on imported gas, the United States has balanced it trade as the U.S. domestic supply has grown to meet its demand. Business magnate T. Boone Pickens stated, “Natural gas is the best transportation fuel. It is better than gasoline or diesel. It is cleaner, it is cheaper, and it is domestic. Natural gas is 97% domestic fuel.”

While oil and natural gas are fossil fuels that release harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, these energy sources are cleaner than coal, which is on the decline as fracking expands. Indeed, coal production fell thirteen percent from 2007 to 2012, as did nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide production. Moreover, pipeline transportation of oil and natural gas is significantly safer than traditional freight methods, which have devastated many communities around the world and cost millions of dollars.

Natural gas has supplied energy to humanity since the 19th century, it offers great jobs, and is more affordable than other energy sources. Without fossil fuels/natural gas it would harder and more expensive to have everyday energy. With fracking being a big part in today’s world, people still wonder if the chemicals used are really dangerous and if there is another way to make them more earth

W hy does everyone care so much about natural gas? Why is it such an essential part of modern culture? Sure, it's an exciting and up and coming technology, which is fuel for the technological generation that we've grown up in, but we need to take a closer look to see the methods and impacts that could affect generations after us.

This therefore makes it one of the positive aspects of using this alternative source of energy. That is, the process has prevented America from using close to $350 to $450 billions spent on imported oil by extracting our own (Wilber, 2012). This money is therefore used in other areas such as the investment in wind and solar energy among others. Once these alternative energies are in check, natural gas will be used for other reasons such as transportation purposes or for energy efficiency, as it is a powerful energy

Natural gas is being relied upon more as an energy source instead of the polluting energy source of burning coal. This is a good thing because it is cutting out the CO2 emissions given off by using coal. However, the method of using hydraulic fracturing to get the natural gas is worse for the environment than the coal. But in the long run, the benefits of hydraulic fracturing do not outweigh the costs. Fracking releases methane gas, a greenhouse gas, into the environment. The chemicals that are being used are winding up in our drinking water, and there has been evidence that fracking has increased seismic activity in the regions in which it is being used to extract the natural gas. Using natural gas cuts down the greenhouse gas emissions of coal, but the very method to gather natural gas also increases greenhouse gas emissions. Negating any clean energy benefits that the

Natural gas is not a clean nor renewable source of energy. A transition to wind, solar, geothermic, and hydroelectric energy along with other natural resources that do not produce the harmful environmental concerns are needed. The cleanliness of our air and the reduction of our dependence on fossil fuels is something that needs to take priority. There is a responsibility to do as much as we can to take care of the resources around us and not to destroy them without knowing the consequences that will be

The Industrial Revolution created a society and energy consumption based on coal. However, in a more traditional society, natural gas has been obtained through oil drilling. While

Majority of the data available online is either too biased or not peer reviewed and hence misleading to the readers. Natural gas is a very valuable resource and can be combined with engineering innovations to vastly improve human life. For instance, natural gas can help enhance energy efficiency by making the methane and ethane conversion process more effectual and economic. Also, natural gas can be used to generate hybrid high-temperature fluids for cleaner sources of energy such as solar thermal as well as natural gas powered systems for effective cooling and heating applications.3 In this age of technology, it is extremely important to discover ways to augment the potential of natural gas while taking the environmental implications into consideration. Sustainable ways should be developed to generate cleaner and more efficient energy while still embracing the economics benefits of the industry. While considering economic benefits of the hydraulic fracturing industry, it is also of utmost importance to consider those who are residing in areas of current or future shale gas operations for detrimental effects to their health and

Despite natural gas being cleaner compared to coal, its use still has impacts on the air quality, as well as human health. Besides, its production has enormous environmental consequences in form of habitat destruction. Moreover, the contribution of natural gas production to climate change is just slightly less compared to coal in terms of energy. Furthermore, a decrease in the natural gas reserves has led to doubling of its price. This makes it a more volatile and less attractive alternative for electricity production compared to clean sources such as solar and wind. There is also an opportunity of meeting power generation and heating needs using efficiency measures and renewable energy sources rather than natural gas. As such, Ontario is left with an alternative of considering most efficient and environmental friendly energy sources, which include hydropower, solar, ground heat, biomass, and wind.

As fracking is a good process of drilling natural gas, there must be questions like, “Is natural gas alternative?” “How long could people keep drilling?” “Is it environmental friendly?” Actually natural gas is alternative energy and natural form of energy, which can be used to replace traditional fossil fuels like gasoline and diesel (Fracking, 2014a). , The use of natural gas will benefit environment by reducing the harmful polluting emission, for example, SO2 and NO released into the atmosphere. The main constitute of natural gas is CH4 which is less threatening compared with conventional fossil fuel like coal. For the amount of the natural gas, it is very tough to measure the precise data, but new technologies are available everyday. What’s more, there are more rules and new standards of fracking by EPA. Howard Feldman, regulatory director of the American Petroleum Institute, said the EPA would phase in the requirements, requiring all oil and natural-gas wells to be in compliance by January 2015

The United States is currently the second-highest energy consumer in the world (Duke 2015.) As the need for energy grows, the need for a clean energy source becomes more urgent. Natural gas, which makes up 24% of the world’s energy source, is promoted as a cleaner energy alternative. Of course, there are pros and cons to this source.

The importance of natural gas is to replace the role of oil in the economy. Natural gas is good for the US because it can produce natural gas domestically. It has plenty of energy for use in people’s homes and in industry. It will help the US economy cope with the depletion of peak oil production. Crude oil is nearly three times as expensive as Natural gas. (Pipeline, 2009-2013)

From past to now, people use a lot of different ways for cooking. Coal is the material which play a really important role in people’s cooking ways’ history. However, people in these day use another material instead of that--natural gas. Natural gas is a new efficiency energy and it will release a lot of energy when people use that. However, natural gas still have some similarities with coal.

With the carbon emission regulations recently introduced by US government, natural gas is the most likely substitution to coal for electricity generation for years to come. Latest price reductions made natural gas from a cost perspective much more attractive than coal.