{"id":2142,"date":"2010-06-28T10:01:19","date_gmt":"2010-06-28T14:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.energyrefuge.com\/blog\/?p=2142"},"modified":"2017-09-05T17:52:35","modified_gmt":"2017-09-05T21:52:35","slug":"mit-releases-report-on-natural-gas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.energyrefuge.com\/blog\/mit-releases-report-on-natural-gas\/","title":{"rendered":"MIT releases report on natural gas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>According to a new MIT report, natural gas will play a leading role in reducing greenhouse-gas emissions over the next several decades, largely by replacing older, inefficient coal plants with highly efficient combined-cycle gas generation. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the conclusion reached by a comprehensive study of the future of natural gas conducted by an MIT study group comprised of 30 MIT faculty members, researchers, and graduate students. The findings, summarized in an 83-page report<\/a>, were presented to lawmakers and senior administration officials this week in Washington.
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The two-year study, managed by the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI), examined the scale of U.S. natural gas reserves and the potential of this fuel to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Based on the work of the multidisciplinary team, with advice from a board of 16 leaders from industry, government and environmental groups, the report examines the future of natural gas through 2050 from the perspectives of technology, economics, politics, national security and the environment.
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The report includes a set of specific proposals for legislative and regulatory policies, as well as recommendations for actions that the energy industry can pursue on its own, to maximize the fuel\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s impact on mitigating greenhouse gas. The study also examined ways to control the environmental impacts that could result from a significant expansion in the production and use of natural gas \u00e2\u20ac\u201d especially in electric power production.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Much has been said about natural gas as a bridge to a low-carbon future, with little underlying analysis to back up this contention. The analysis in this study provides the confirmation \u00e2\u20ac\u201d natural gas truly is a bridge to a low-carbon future,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said MITEI Director Ernest J. Moniz in introducing the report. <\/p>\n

Moniz further noted, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153In the very long run, very tight carbon constraints will likely phase out natural gas power generation in favor of zero-carbon or extremely low-carbon energy sources such as renewables, nuclear power or natural gas and coal with carbon capture and storage. For the next several decades, however, natural gas will play a crucial role in enabling very substantial reductions in carbon emissions.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Two major factors that can make a significant difference in the near term in reducing carbon emissions are using less energy and using gas instead of coal \u00e2\u20ac\u201d especially by replacing the oldest, least-efficient coal plants with the most-efficient modern combined-cycle gas plants, said Moniz, who chaired the study, along with co-chairs Henry Jacoby, Professor of Management, and Tony Meggs, MITEI Visiting Engineer. Professor Jacoby is co-director of the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change.<\/p>\n

The study found that there are significant global supplies of conventional gas. How much of this gas gets produced and used, and the extent of its impact on greenhouse gas reductions, depends critically on some key political and regulatory decisions. <\/p>\n

In the United States, for example, there is a substantial amount of low-hanging fruit available by displacing inefficient power generation with more efficient, lower CO2 emitting gas plants. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153That kind of substitution alone,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Moniz said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153reduces those carbon emissions by a factor of three. It does however raise complicated regulatory and political issues that will have to be resolved to take advantage of this potential.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

While the new report emphasized the great potential for natural gas as a transitional fuel to help curb greenhouse gases and dependence on oil, it also stresses that it is important as a matter of national policy not to favor any one fuel or energy source in a way that puts others at a disadvantage. The most useful policies, the authors suggested, are ones that produce a truly \u00e2\u20ac\u0153level playing field\u00e2\u20ac\u009d for all forms of energy supply and for demand reduction, and thus let the marketplace, and the ingenuity of the nation\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s researchers, determine the best options. <\/p>\n

Illustrating the role of natural gas as a bridge to a low carbon future, the study\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s authors stressed that it would be a mistake to let natural gas crowd out research on other low- or no-carbon energy sources, but it would also be a mistake to let investments in such alternatives crowd out the expansion of natural gas resources in the near term, particularly for the purposes of CO2 emissions mitigation. <\/p>\n

The study received support from the American Clean Skies Foundation, Hess Corporation, Agencia Nacional de Hidrocarburos of Colombia, and the Energy Futures Coalition and the MIT Energy Initiative. The report issued this week is a preliminary overview of a more detailed report that will be released later this year.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153In a carbon-constrained world, natural gas will become a larger part of the energy mix,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Moniz said. But in the longer term, it will be necessary to shift to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153essentially zero-carbon\u00e2\u20ac\u009d sources so \u00e2\u20ac\u0153we better not get mesmerized by gas either. We need to do the hard work of getting those alternative technologies ready to take over.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
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