Running Out of Energy: Is the glass half full or half empty?

December 10, 2008 by Chris McGill · 3 Comments, leave one of your own
Filed under: energy

glasshalffull Running Out of Energy: Is the glass half full or half empty? Which is it? Regarding U.S. natural gas the answer seems clear. Domestic natural gas reserves made their largest leap since records have been kept, increasing by more than 26 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) from year-end 2006 to year-end 2007, according to the Energy Information Administration (U.S. Department of Energy),

www.eia.doe.gov/ direct link.

This occurred even though the reserves base was being drawn down by more than 19 Tcf during the same period, as domestic natural gas was produced to heat homes and fuel businesses. So, does the United States have a relatively clean energy resource that is growing – not precipitously declining? Can it be sustained? Sources of methane may include:

Traditional production
Unconventional resource development
Aboveground coal to methane
Underground coal gasification
Landfill gas
Agricultural biogas
Wastewater treatment biogas
Methane hydrates primarily located on continental margins

Is methane ultimately a renewable resource?

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3 Comments on Running Out of Energy: Is the glass half full or half empty?

Mike Mathews on Wed, 10th Dec 2008 9:13 am

Web site is terrific but it needs a more human touch. What about a motorcycle story, say something like “Man completes 5K mile road trip for natural gas”?

Got your card and recognize the picture from it. Hope things are well. Mike

[Reply]

William Ballard on Fri, 12th Dec 2008 3:30 pm

President-elect Obama has pledged to tax any new coal-to-energy producers out of business. This will reduce two sources of methane. I assume he will attempt to do all in his power to destroy current coal use. We may need even more domestic natural gas reserves. If coal is eliminated can gas fill the void? I’ll enjoy one of the new Schlitz beers while contemplating this disaster.

[Reply]

Chris McGill on Tue, 16th Dec 2008 7:27 am

I can not say at this point that Mr. Obama will be responsible for destroying coal consumption in this country. His public personna has been one of pragmatism, however, it remains to be seen what public policy emerges from his administration. Having said that, I agree with you to the extent that it does not seem wise to be taking potenital domestic energy resources off the table when our economy and security are so closely tied to our domestic energy future. Chris McGill.

[Reply]

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