Natural Gas
Satisfying one of today's burning issues
The popularity of natural gas as a home and industrial heating and cooking source, for generating electricity and for manufacturing reached its apex in the early 1970s during the first of several oil and gasoline shortages. Thousands of consumers converted their home-heating systems to natural gas, which was then becoming cheaper than oil, readily available and cleaner burning.
Natural gas is imported and produced domestically. It produces significantly fewer harmful emissions than gasoline or diesel, coal or wood, and is also reformulated to power vehicles like cars and trucks.
Most of the natural gas used by consumers is methane. Other kinds of processed natural gases include ethane, propane, butane, iso-butane and pentanes. Natural gas is drawn from off-shore or on-shore wells like other petrol-chemicals, cleaned and processed, then piped or shipped for use. Natural gas can be stored and transferred as compressed natural gas or as liquefied natural gas. It also can be blended with hydrogen. In addition to piping it, natural gas travels by ship, rail and truck.
Consumers can choose to convert their homes to natural gas where available, or buy it in containerized form for cooking and heating. In recent years the costs associated with locating, pumping, processing and transporting natural gas have climbed significantly. Demand continues to increase, as have consumer prices related to the purchase of gas or products made from gas.
Examining the benefits of alternative energy sources and making smart choices about where your energy comes from are just a few of the many OneThings you can pursue in your quest to help conserve resources and reduce our dependence on costly energy sources such as oil.