Natural Gas | Grist

Feed-in tariffs—the new school of thought 1
Posted 2 weeks, 1 day ago Why Renewable Portfolio Standards and emissions trading (cap-and-trade) alone won't get us where we need to go - and what will.
Iran and the Pipelineistan Opera

Jumpin’ Jack Verdi, it’s a gas, gas, gas 0
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago Oil and natural gas prices may be relatively low right now, but don't be fooled. The new great game of the twenty-first century is always over energy and it's taking place on an immense chessboard called Eurasia. Its squares are defined by the networks of pipelines being laid across the oil heartlands of the planet. Call it Pipelineistan.
Extra largesse

Fossil fuel subsidies dwarf clean energy subsidies; Obama wants to eliminate them 13
Posted 1 month, 4 weeks ago One often hears opponents of clean energy say that renewable sources are too expensive; they can't get by without subsidies; they can't compete in a "free market." One of the many reasons this is a daffy argument is that there is no such thing as a free market, certainly not in energy. Fossil fuels have benefited from a century of subsidies and supporting infrastructure -- and are still subsidized lavishly relative to their scrappy little competitors. This is a point enviros often make, but a new report from the Environmental Law Institute and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars puts some teeth in it.
WTFrack?!

EPA: Chemicals found in Wyo. drinking water might be from fracking 0
Posted 2 months, 3 weeks ago
Federal environment officials investigating drinking water contamination near the ranching town of Pavillion, Wyo., have found that at least three water wells contain a chemical used in the natural gas drilling process of hydraulic fracturing.
Or perhaps just wank about it inconclusively

Should greens ally with natural gas against coal? 16
Posted 3 months ago
The politics of natural gas are extremely interesting. In a nutshell, the interests of coal utilities and natural gas executives are at odds. To the extent carbon is penalized and coal is phased out, natural gas wins. The question for enviros: Is it worthwhile to ally with the natgas industry to reduce the influence of coal and strengthen the climate bill?
The wrong kind of bubbly

More gas contamination affects Pennsylvania residents 0
Posted 3 months, 2 weeks ago
Pennsylvania environment officials are investigating another natural gas well leak, after residents near the town of Roaring Branch complained last month that rust-colored water was flowing from a spring and two small creeks were bubbling with methane gas.
Why CO2 regulation will lead to lower electricity prices 2
Posted 3 months, 3 weeks ago
Excluding those who question whether we need a greenhouse gas policy at all, the debate is fundamentally one about where certainty is most important. What all agree on is that uncertainty is unacceptable. But do we really have that much uncertainty?
a natural solution

Game changer 5: RFK, Jr.: How to end America’s deadly coal addiction: natural gas! 0
Posted 4 months ago
Converting rapidly from coal-generated energy to gas is President Barack Obama's most obvious first step towards saving our planet and jump-starting our economy.
Tim Wirth to natural gas executives: “We’re in deep trouble…” 0
Posted 4 months ago
From ProPublica

Energy industry sways Congress with misleading data 2
Posted 4 months, 2 weeks ago
The two key arguments that the oil and gas industry is using to fight federal regulation of the natural gas drilling process called hydraulic fracturing -- that the costs would cripple their business and that state regulations are already strong -- are challenged by the same data and reports the industry is using to bolster its position.
Why Don’t Gas and Coal Love (Some) Climate Solutions?

Coal-nundrum and Ex-gas-peration 15
Posted 4 months, 2 weeks ago
Questions for utilities about the economics of climate solutions.
A tale of two emissions factors

How much CO2 do our nation’s coal and gas plants actually produce? 7
Posted 4 months, 2 weeks ago
Since 1960, the natural gas power fleet has become less and less CO2 intensive, while the coal fleet has become more and more CO2 intensive. What explains this trend? One word: competition.
Breaching the dams

How fast can the US electric sector reform? 8
Posted 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Is the electric sector capable of rapid, large scale reform? Many policies implicitly assume the answer to that question is No, especially when it comes to greenhouse gas (GHG) emission control.

The result is a policy conversation that hinges on the assumption that it is hard to change. How much must we spend to accelerate new technology? How many decades should we allow for a phase-in of new regulations?

As it turns out, the industry can change -- and indeed, has changed -- at a much faster pace than you might think. Contrary to conventional wisdom, it turns out to be quick and fairly painless to replace meaningful fractions of our power fleet in very short time frames.
Game changer, Part 2:

Why unconventional natural gas makes the 2020 Waxman-Markey target so damn easy and cheap 2
Posted 5 months, 1 week ago
Natural gas alone could meet a great deal of the Waxman-Markey CO2 target for 2020 -- without requiring gobs of new power plants to be sited and built or thousands of miles of new transmission lines.
Climate action game changer, Part 1: Is there a lot more natural gas than previously thought? 5
Posted 5 months, 2 weeks ago
I have been researching what may be the single biggest game changer for climate action in the next two decades — U.S. natural gas supply.
Incurious George

Former Republican Sen. George ‘Macaca’ Allen shills for dirty energy 7
Posted 5 months, 2 weeks ago
Hey, remember George Allen, the former Republican senator from Virginia best known for using the racist slur "macaca" on camera during his failed bid for reelection in 2006? Apparently, he's making his comeback as the Republican anti-climate bill poster boy, flacking for on behalf of the coal and oil lobbies.
T Boone's gonna love this

How to shut down 93% of coal without building new plants or reducing power supply 27
Posted 5 months, 3 weeks ago
A quick analysis shows that the underutilized U.S. natural gas power plant fleet could quickly ramp up to take most coal off-line -- at fairly low cost. Paging a Mr. Pickens!
Natural Gas Politics

Congress reconsiders regulatory exemption for gas drilling 1
Posted 5 months, 4 weeks ago
With growing evidence that hydraulic fracturing can damage water supplies, Democratic leaders in Congress are circulating legislation that would repeal the extraordinary exemption and for the first time require companies to disclose all chemicals used in the key natural gas drilling process.
GOP to Jim Rogers: STFU

House Republicans blow off biz leaders who want climate action 3
Posted 6 months, 2 weeks ago
House Republicans are ramping up their campaign against the Democratic leadership's climate and energy bill -- and telling business leaders to get with the program or get out of the way.
Dream harder

Massive economic and policy reform: Easier than you think 13
Posted 6 months, 3 weeks ago
Big change doesn't require removing entire barriers, just a few key bricks.