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.
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)
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.
