Axios: Natural gas will accelerate the clean energy future

Advancing emission reduction goals must be a shared global effort, where countries around the world work to balance affordability and reliability with emissions reduction goals.

But recent events have pushed these shared goals backward.

One solution: Supporting the construction and modernizations of infrastructure to transport more U.S. natural gas can help meet global and domestic demand for clean, reliable energy.

An abundant, affordable source of energy, U.S. natural gas can also fast-track climate goals and empower our allies to grow their energy independence.

• Natural gas in the U.S. accounts for one-third of electricity generation and industrial energy consumption, one-quarter of residential, 19% of all commercial, and 3% of transportation sector consumption.
• Right now, burning a clean source of energy like natural gas yields fewer emissions of air pollutants and CO2 than burning coal or oil. In fact, natural gas reduces CO2 emissions by about 50% when producing electricity.
• Russia provides 40% of Europe’s natural gas demand, so U.S. exports of liquid natural gas (LNG) could help the EU navigate the fallout of Russia’s halted oil and gas deliveries.

What you need to know: For now, EU countries minimize dependence on Russia by reducing gas consumption through government-imposed restrictions. And Germany is relying on coal-fired power plants to refill gas inventories, which opposes climate change mitigation.

Why it’s important: Coal accounted for more than 40% of the growth in global CO2 emissions in 2021. Increased coal production to weather the disruption of Russian supplies hinders clean energy production.

However, natural gas can accelerate the shift to renewable energy sources like solar and wind to achieve wide-scale decarbonization while meeting current demand.

• CO2 emissions are reduced by up to 40% when renewables and natural gas work together.
• As the U.S. continues to adopt renewable forms of electricity, there’s an increased need for natural gas and related infrastructure to enable flexible, on-demand power generation and energy storage to ensure electric reliability.
• Gas-fired power plants can quickly ramp up to support intermittency issues and provide backup electricity when solar, wind or hydroelectricity resources fluctuate.

As the world’s largest producer of natural gas, the U.S. produced 934 billion cubic meters in 2021. Plus, it holds 473.3 trillion cubic feet of proved reserves as of 2020, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates.

• The U.S. is the second largest exporter of natural gas. In the first four months of 2022, the EIA reports the U.S. sent 74% of its LNG to Europe.
• LNG is a global commodity that’s been delivered to 40 countries on five continents since August 2021.

But expanded natural gas exports to meet the Biden Administration’s goal of supporting European allies may be at risk — producers are halted by years of delays and canceled U.S. energy infrastructure projects that would allow quickly increasing capacity for producing and shipping gas.

In other words: There’s more than enough U.S. natural gas to meet global and domestic demand for clean and low-carbon energy and keep costs stable for American consumers.

• But we need to invest in building new, modernized energy infrastructure to enable natural gas to meet climate goals while maintaining its efficiency and low cost.

How it’s done: Improving the regulatory environment can enable expanded natural gas infrastructure to sustainably source, transport and distribute it from producing wells to end-use consumers. We also need transmission systems to safely transport LNG to export facilities and in larger capacities.

Some clean developments and technologies include:

• Carbon-capture, utilization and storage technologies that can capture more than 90% of CO2 emissions from sources like coal-fired power plants.
• Methane emission mitigation to reduce leakage from natural gas production, gathering and processing, transmission and distribution, and LNG shipping. This results in cleaner natural gas.
• Additional infrastructure to transport zero-carbon fuels like hydrogen without leakage.

Looking ahead: America’s environmentally friendly natural gas system is well-positioned to support increased production for export to Europe without jeopardizing domestic supply or raising energy costs.

However, it’s imperative that energy and environmental regulation permits more investment in infrastructure expansions.

Additionally, partnering renewable resources with natural gas means the U.S. can reach climate goals faster without sacrificing reliability and affordability.

Learn more about building a clean energy future.