Tag Archives: efficiency

Dan Gibson Natural gas gives you the greenest beans

Posted on July 7, 2009 by Dan Gibson | Comments Off


Andrew dropped by my desk the other day with a story he had come across in the printed version of the Post. It was a Slate article titled, “How to Buy the Greenest Beans: should I get dry bags or the canned kind?” by Nina Shen Rastogi. The story is an excellent analysis of the carbon footprint of canned beans as opposed to dry bagged beans.

You’ll enjoy reading the article’s analysis between the two (I won’t spoil the ending) but what struck me were some points that AGA tries to make on a daily basis were exhibited perfectly here.

Take a look at this passage where the author begins to talk about cooking the beans. “Cooking dried beans at a simmer on the stovetop—the most common method—can require anywhere from 30 minutes to three hours, even after a lengthy presoak. Based on some recorded energy figures provided by food researchers at the University of Bristol, cooking five ounces of beans for that long might require 1,400 to 5,600 BTUs on a gas stovetop or 4,100 to 16,500 BTUs on an electric stovetop.”

Read that again. “1,400 to 5,600 BTUs on a gas stovetop versus 4,100 to 16,500 BTUs on an electric stovetop.” That’s a big difference.

Have you heard about the concept of “direct use?” Natural gas loses about 10 percent of its useable energy in the journey from wellhead to burner tip, making natural gas 90 percent efficient when used in typical household appliances.  Compare that to electricity which loses almost 70 percent of its useable energy during delivery. And because natural gas is the cleanest burning fossil fuel, in addition to the efficiency gains, the direct use of natural gas would actually reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Speaking of efficiency. Did you know that since 1970 the number of residential customers has increased by 71 percent to 27 million but total residential natural gas use has not increased?  This means there has been a decrease in use per residential customer of about 1 percent per year for the last 38 years. In other words, the average natural gas residential customer today uses 39 percent less natural gas than they did 38 years ago.  This translates directly into greenhouse gas emissions reductions on the order of 38 percent per residential customers. Check out these slides available online.

So, if you really want to go “green,” you may want to consider using high-efficiency natural gas appliances in your home and swap out your electric appliances where you can.

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Dan Gibson National Academies Confirms What the American Gas Association Has Been Saying for Years – Full-Fuel-Cycle is the Measurement Standard of Choice!

Posted on May 27, 2009 by Dan Gibson | Comments Off


The big news in the natural gas world today is a report released by the National Academy of Sciences that advocates that “the U.S. Department of Energy should consider gradually changing its system of setting appliance energy-efficiency standards to a full-fuel-cycle measurement, which takes into account both the energy used to operate an appliance, as well as upstream energy costs – energy consumed in producing and distributing fuels from coal, oil, and natural gas, and energy lost in generating and delivering electric power.”

090527pullquotescience National Academies Confirms What the American Gas Association Has Been Saying for Years – Full Fuel Cycle is the Measurement Standard of Choice!

What does that mean? What it means is the same thing AGA has been saying for years and reiterates in our press release today praising the National Academies.

Natural gas is highly efficient. To pull from the release, 70 percent of the total amount of fuels used in producing, generating and transmitting electricity is lost by the time that electricity reaches a customer. By contrast, producing and delivering natural gas directly loses only about 10 percent of its usable energy.

That’s obviously a big difference.

The release goes on to underscore how the study echoes the ‘carbon footprint labeling’ provisions that were recently included in the Waxman-Markey climate change legislation, which would expand the existing Federal Trade Commission EnergyGuide labeling program for home appliances to include carbon footprint information.

The carbon label is a big deal and Dave sums it well when he says, “This study recommends a change in the way that we look at energy efficiency in our appliances and it should be expanded to include building codes that also measure energy efficiency.”

It’s great to hear other people get what AGA has been saying for years. I know we have a few DOE people that browse this blog. What do you guys think? Is the National Academies a reliable enough source to Full-Fuel-Cycle Measurement Approach. Just asking. icon wink National Academies Confirms What the American Gas Association Has Been Saying for Years – Full Fuel Cycle is the Measurement Standard of Choice!

If you’re interested, you can visit AGA’s energy efficiency page for more information on the benefits of natural gas.

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Bruce Kauffmann Educating consumers about energy and natural gas

Posted on February 18, 2009 by Bruce Kauffmann | 1 Comment


A long-standing goal of AGA’s is to better educate the general public about how energy is produced and delivered to the American consumer.

For example, ask most Americans where the electricity they use in their homes comes from and they will respond, “The electric outlets.”  And they are right – sort of, because while it is true that if you plug an electric appliance into an electric outlet, it will receive electric power, that is not where electricity originally comes from.

Electricity originally comes from coal, or natural gas, or from a nuclear power or hydroelectric plant, or – increasingly – from wind or solar energy.  These original sources of energy are then converted into electricity at generation plants and delivered using transmission lines (such as those in the picture accompanying this post) to those aforementioned electric outlets.

090218lines Educating consumers about energy and natural gas

Here is another thing most Americans don’t know.  When the energy source travels from its place of origin – a coal mine in the case of coal, a wellhead in the case of natural gas – to the power plant in which it is converted to electricity, and then on to its ultimate destination at the electric outlet, it has taken a very inefficient journey.  In fact, during that journey around 70 percent of the useable energy is lost.  Most of that loss results from the generation process.

What is more, depending on what fuel is used to generate the electricity, varying amounts of greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere during the generation process.  That is why, for example, in our new environmentally conscious climate, natural gas is now the preferred fuel for electricity generation.  It is much cleaner than coal; presently it is much more abundant and reliable than wind or solar power; and it is much less controversial than nuclear power.

Of course, in addition to using natural gas to generate electricity to power electric home heaters, water heaters or stoves, natural gas is also used directly to power natural gas home heaters, water heaters or stoves.  And guess what?  This direct use of natural gas in homes or businesses is far more efficient than turning it into electricity for the same purpose – natural gas only loses about 10 percent of its useable energy traveling from the wellhead to the burner tip.  And being more efficient, these direct uses also are more environmentally friendly.  In fact, a typical American home generates twice as many greenhouse gas emissions using an electric resistance water heater than one using a comparable natural gas water heater.

That is why AGA is working to educate more Americans, including our political leaders, about the advantages of the direct use of natural gas. It increases energy efficiency, reduces greenhouse gas emissions and saves consumers money. If you’d like to see how much smaller your carbon footprint would be with increased direct use, go to www.comfortableresponsible.org and check out their carbon calculator. You might be surprised.

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Paula Gant Natural Gas Utility Energy Efficiency Programs: Good for the planet (and your pocketbook)

Posted on December 16, 2008 by Paula Gant | 1 Comment


Utility companies may not be the first bunch that comes to mind when one thinks of proponents of energy efficiency, but maybe they should be.  In reality, natural gas utilities are uniquely positioned to promote smart energy use.  Due in part to natural gas utility efforts to help their customers implement energy saving measures,  the average American home uses 32 percent less natural gas now than in 1980 – benefiting both consumer finances and the environment.

Each year, AGA surveys its member natural gas utilities to determine what they are doing to help customers use natural gas more responsibly.  Ways in which these utilities encourage responsible energy use include offering cash rebates for upgrades to more efficient appliances, providing  tools to help customers understand their energy use, and supplying information about what changes a customer can make to his home or business to use energy smartly.

map Natural Gas Utility Energy Efficiency Programs: Good for the planet (and your pocketbook)

This year’s results demonstrate that utilities and their customers are taking energy efficiency seriously, and that their actions are having an impact.  In 2007:

  • Nearly $329 million was budgeted to help customers use natural gas more efficiently.
  • Energy savings achieved through natural gas energy efficiency programs were enough to offset 0.6 million tons of carbon.

  • Programs administered by utilities helped customers reduce the amount of natural gas they use in their home by an average of 9 percent.

For consumers of natural gas, these programs are helpful in reducing energy bills without sacrificing the comfort or productivity of homes and businesses.  For all of us, they help contribute to a cleaner, greener planet.

For a link to the full survey report, and related information about natural gas utilities and energy efficiency, please click here.

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