Dan Gibson “The Future of Natural Gas,” Meet Dr. Ernest J. Moniz, MIT

Posted on July 26, 2010 by Dan Gibson | 1 Comment


The Natural Gas Roundtable was formed more than 40 years ago to advance the dialogue on issues regarding natural gas and energy policy. They’ve certainly done that. Just recently I’ve been able to attend events featuring Chairman Gensler, Dr. Stelzer and a great panel on the outlook of the natural gas industry for 2010 to name just a few.

The next roundtable will feature Dr. Ernest J. Moniz, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Moniz is part of the group at MIT that is working on The Future of Natural Gas, a study that analyzes the role of natural gas in a carbon constrained environment. This study is the third in a series and while not yet final the preliminary report has been in the news quite a bit lately. The first two parts of the series were The Future of Nuclear released in 2003 and the Future of Coal, released in 2007.

report natural gas “The Future of Natural Gas,” Meet Dr. Ernest J. Moniz, MIT

The study takes the position that 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. From the release on the report:

“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’s 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 — especially in electric power production.”

“Much 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 — natural gas truly is a bridge to a low-carbon future,” said MITEI Director Ernest J. Moniz in introducing the report  . . . “For the next several decades, however, natural gas will play a crucial role in enabling very substantial reductions in carbon emissions.”

Some links you might find helpful:

A brief summary of the study at MyEcoProject

The release on the study from MIT (lots of info, six pages)

The interim report at MIT

This Natural Gas Roundtable is scheduled for Tuesday, July 27, 12:30 p.m. at the University Club in Northwest DC. If you’d like to attend just contact Ella at 202-824-7207 or at eproctor@aga.org by COB on Monday.

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Dan Gibson Renewable Gas – Vision for a Sustainable Gas Network

Posted on July 22, 2010 by Dan Gibson | Comments Off


Renewable Gas 180x267 Renewable Gas Vision for a Sustainable Gas NetworkNational Grid just released a white paper titled “Renewable Gas – Vision for a Sustainable Gas Network.” The research shows how 16% of natural gas demand in the four states National Grid serves (Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, New Hampshire) could be met by renewable gas, and focuses on the role of renewable gas in the clean energy future of the United States.

This paper covers renewable gas from beginning to end. Going into detail on what exactly renewable gas is, how it’s produced including potential sources, and even goes into some of the myths about the quality of renewable gas. The paper discusses a new project being developed and features a graphic that shows what a future sustainable gas network might look like.  The “Roadmap to Success” section provides some great information on what needs to be done to make the vision a reality.

Donald Chahbazpour from National Grid’s Sustainable Gas Group said, “So far, direct injection of renewable gas has been limited to a small number of projects in the United States. With this white paper, we are trying to demonstrate how, along with wind and solar, it is another option to meet the clean energy needs of the future.

“We also wanted to educate with this white paper, by clearly illustrating how renewable gas is produced and integrated into an existing natural gas network,” added Donald. The ability to deliver renewable gas using the current infrastructure is one of the main advantages people point to when talking about renewable gas.

You can read the full press release here. Take some time to read the white paper and the accompanying fact sheet, and let us know what you think in the comments below.

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Chris Hogan The Natural Gas Revolution

Posted on July 21, 2010 by Chris Hogan | Comments Off


In last Friday’s Wall Street Journal, I read an article on natural gas (The Natural Gas Revolution) that got my attention and caused me a bit of concern. As Mr. Deutch points out, clean, abundant and domestic natural gas is rapidly becoming a much more important fuel than even two years ago.  Unfortunately, he failed to address the benefits of natural gas’ direct use in homes and businesses; one of its most important and efficient applications.

When used directly to heat homes, to heat water and for cooking, natural gas emits 45 percent less carbon dioxide than coal and 30 percent less than heating oil. Natural gas water heaters and furnaces are more efficient than electric versions and have the added benefit of not adding to base load demand during peak hours. Electric water heaters also produce double the carbon dioxide emissions of natural gas.

In terms of efficiency, almost 70 percent of coal’s energy is lost by the time that coal-fired electricity reaches a customer. By contrast, only about 10 percent of natural gas’s energy is lost when it is produced and delivered directly to homes and businesses.

All of these attributes only highlight the important, and intelligent, role that natural gas plays in providing direct, reliable and low-carbon energy.

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Dan Gibson The natural gas grid…the really smart grid

Posted on July 20, 2010 by Dan Gibson | 3 Comments


I read a lot of stuff about the “smart grid” but it generally covers only the electric side. Here’s a good article from CleanTechies titled “The Natural Gas Grid – The Other Grid” that has some good information on the natural gas grid. The article brings attention to the industry’s record of safely and reliably delivering natural gas. Some highlights from the article:

  • The current demand to update the gas grid is more about reducing utility expenditures, increasing energy conservation, and meeting global climate initiatives and mandates, rather than dealing with failing system integrity issues
  • Southern California Gas (SoCalGas) was recently approved by the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) to implement a $1.05 billion, 5.5 million meter AMI system in Southern California. SoCalGas is the largest gas utility in the United States and is a gas-only utility
  • The gas grid received zero funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)

Putting it all together

The article goes on to talk about some of the initiatives to combine the information from the electric smart meters and the natural gas smart meters so that consumers can get comprehensive information on their energy use. They focus on sub-metering. In this process, a gas module is put on an existing gas meter, sending signals to an electricity meter. In turn, the meter sends a signal containing gas and electricity data to the utility business system.

Let us know your thoughts on the smart grid before you skip over to CleanTechies to read their article.

Posted in energy, Natural Gas | Tagged | 3 Comments