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The New Fuel Mix
Published in Michael Frank Hordeski, Alternative Fuels—The Future of Hydrogen, 2020
Natural gas is a fossil fuel found in underground reservoirs. It consists chiefly of methane, with smaller amounts of other hydrocarbons such as ethane, propane, and butane, along with inert gases such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and helium. The actual composition varies, depending on the region of the source. As technology advances, unconventional natural gas deposits are beginning to make up a significant part of the supply. Before 1978, natural gas that had been discovered deep underground was left untouched. The passage of market-based regulation and the Natural Gas Policy Act provide incentives to extract these deep deposits and to spur investment in deep exploration and development. Deep gas is usually 15,000 feet underground, compared to conventional deposits which are only a few thousand feet deep. Tight gas is gas that is trapped in hard rock or limestone (tight sand) and represents about 21% of U.S. natural gas reserves. Black shale is another source where the estimated reserves have tripled in the last few years. Coalbed methane is another source that in the past was neglected and considered a problem in coal mining. It is estimated to be about 8% of total reserves.
A history of manufactured gas and natural gas
Published in Anthony N. Penna, A History of Energy Flows, 2019
Similar to other fossil fuels, natural gas is a hydrocarbon composed mostly of methane. Methane is one carbon atom joined by four hydrogen atoms (CH4), which constitutes 97 percent of natural gas. In shale gas production, as little as 3.6 percent to as much as 7.9 percent annually escapes into the atmosphere from venting during hydraulic fracturing. Leaks in pipelines and pressure release valves designed to vent gas over the lifetime of a gas well add to the negative greenhouse gas emissions. As another heat-trapping hydrocarbon, methane is a far more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Unlike carbon dioxide, which will trap heat in the atmosphere for 100 years or more, methane lasts for about 20 years. During that shortened period, however, 1 pound of methane traps as much heat as 72 pounds of carbon dioxide.58 Even though its heat-trapping power declines over time, leakage caused by subterranean pressures, temperature changes and ground movements caused by drilling nearby reduces the advantages of shale gas over other fossil fuels. When burned, natural gas emits half the carbon dioxide of coal, “but methane leakage eviscerates this advantage because of its heat-trapping power.”59 Recent research challenges the EPA’s estimate of methane leakage. New estimates put the rate of methane emissions at 2.3 percent of yearly production or an estimated loss of 13 million metric tons of methane or enough natural gas to heat 10 million U.S. homes.60
The rise of the corporate investment rights regime and ‘extractive exceptionalism’
Published in Kalowatie Deonandan, Michael L. Dougherty, Mining in Latin America, 2016
Sarah Anderson, Manuel Pérez-Rocha, Michael L. Dougherty
More recently, in 2012, the extractive firm Lone Pine Resources filed a lawsuit against the Canadian state over the provincial government of Quebec’s moratorium on the practice of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for shale gas. Fracking involves injecting a highly pressurised fluid mixture of water, sand, and various chemicals into the ground to fracture rock and release natural gas. This practice has been contentious because of concerns over potential harmful effects on the environment and on drinking water. Lone Pine, which had invested in permits to mine for oil and gas in Quebec, alleges that Quebec’s temporary moratorium on fracking constituted a breach of the North American Free Trade Agreement’s provisions on indirect expropriation (De Gramont 2009). Lone Pine is seeking $250 million in compensation in this pending UNCITRAL case (Pérez-Rocha and Paley 2014).
Monthly natural gas demand forecasting by adjusted seasonal grey forecasting model
Published in Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects, 2021
Natural gas is used for electricity production, industry, heating, etc. The highest share of Turkey’s total natural gas consumption in 2018 occurred in %37 electricity production, %24 industry, and %26 housing sector (EMRA Report 2019). Natural gas consumption varies with the seasons. The winter demand can be twice as much as that of the summer. The natural gas demand of Turkey peaks in winter due to the increase in heating demand, electricity generation, and consumption in power plants. Hence, if exists, the excessive supply during the low demand period (summer) needs to be stored, and if needed, to be moved for the consumption of high demand period (winter) (MENR 2018). For seasonal balancing, peak shaving, and gas supply shortage, TPAO and BOTAŞ plan the storage capacity. There are five ongoing projects, which seek to provide supply‐demand balance, shave the peak demand, as well as meeting the gas supply deficit that is expected in years to come (MENR 2018).
Methane flux from flowback operations at a shale gas site
Published in Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, 2020
Jacob T. Shaw, Grant Allen, Joseph Pitt, Adil Shah, Shona Wilde, Laurence Stamford, Zhaoyang Fan, Hugo Ricketts, Paul I. Williams, Prudence Bateson, Patrick Barker, Ruth Purvis, David Lowry, Rebecca Fisher, James France, Max Coleman, Alastair C. Lewis, David A. Risk, Robert S. Ward
Energy production through the combustion of fossil fuels is associated with the emission of greenhouse gases. The burning of natural gas, which largely comprises methane (CH4), directly produces carbon dioxide (CO2). Hydraulic fracturing (colloquially referred to as “fracking”) of shale gas formations for the extraction of natural gas has gained wide-spread attention in the past decade. Energy derived from the hydraulic fracturing processes has been proposed as a “cleaner” alternative to the carbon-intensive combustion of coal in the UK energy sector. However, this assumption depends on the proportion of CH4, a prominent greenhouse gas, released to the atmosphere through intentional venting, accidental leakage (fugitive emissions) or as a non-combusted component of flaring.
Performance optimisation of parabolic trough solar thermal power plants – a case study in Bangladesh
Published in International Journal of Sustainable Energy, 2020
Noushad Bhuiyan, Wali Ullah, Rabiul Islam, Tofael Ahmed, Nur Mohammad
Environmental impacts include natural gas preservation, life cycle gas emission, land use and water consumption. Its study is necessary for harnessing energy from the CSP based plant, to sort out the possible benefits and to identify the energy production stages to be developed (Lechón, de la Rúa, and Sáez 2008). PTCSPs, a kind of renewable energy power plant, help to preserve fossil fuels and reduce the CO2 emission. For producing 1 kWh electricity, a 28.32 m3 natural gas is required while a 0.62 kg CO2 (0.35 m3) is emitted (Brander et al. 2011). Table 3 illustrates the amount of fossil fuel preservation and CO2 reduction data obtained from the lifecycle of the considered power plants.