Discussion»Questions»Science and Technology» About 54 trillion cubic feet of natural gas exists in Alaska north slope if can be successfully recovered. How many cubic miles is that?
And don't forget the 800 year supply of known coal reserves. Plenty of time to put up more wind generators. There are several farms in my area that have been heated for over a century by their own natural gas wells.
And don't forget the 800 year supply of known coal reserves. Plenty of time to put up more wind generators. There are several farms in my area that have been heated for over a century by their own natural gas wells.
Watch out whenever anyone makes the claim that any kind of fossil fuel is "clean" or at least cleaner than others. It's the ones who sell it who make that claim.
Burning natural gas for energy does result in fewer emissions of nearly all types of air pollutants and carbon dioxide (CO2) than burning coal or petroleum products to produce an equal amount of energy. Quantities of fuels are measured in thermal units, meaning the value of the energy they can produce. These are called British thermal units or MMBtu. About 117 pounds of carbon dioxide are produced per million British thermal units of natural gas compared with more than 200 pounds of CO2 per MMBtu of coal and more than 160 pounds per MMBtu of distillate fuel oil.
But... natural gas is mostly methane - which is a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than CO2. Some natural gas leaks into the atmosphere from oil and natural gas wells, fracking, storage tanks, pipelines, and processing plants. These leaks were the source of 32% of total U.S. methane emissions and 4% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2015. ~ Is that gas in the Alaskan north slope available directly? Or does it require fracking? The latter process causes vast and unacceptable damage to aquifers, agriculture and natural environments. ~ Solar thermal is a source of renewal power which can power industries on a large scale. Other forms of renewables, combined with batteries, and improvements in recycling technologies can fuel most private needs. And we can do much to reduce our consumption through better insulation and building codes, and better public transport.
Why pump yet more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere when we have the means to get all our power from sources that don't cost the Earth?
This post was edited by inky at September 21, 2019 2:18 PM MDT
WM BARR . =ABSOLUTE TRASH 