Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 4.5
The Costs of Utilizing Natural Gas Technologies
$
Environmental
costs
Dollar
costs
National security
costs
The national security costs of petroleum use are certainly “high” due to dependence of the
United States on foreign sources of oil in the hands of nation-states who are not our friends,
their supplies' vulnerability to interruption via cartel activity or terrorist action against supply
lines, and the effect of global climate change on several friendly and not so friendly nation-
states.
The costs of utilizing natural gas are summarized in
Figure 4.5.
The environmental costs of
utilizing natural gas are difficult to separate from the costs of using petroleum because the two
resources are so often produced from the same wells; therefore environmental costs of natural
gas must also be considered at least “moderately high.” Natural gas is a cleaner burning fuel than
petroleum due to its generally lower content of contaminants such as sulfur and higher efficiency
of combustion, but it does make substantial contributions to global climate change in the form
of carbon dioxide emissions. Although not yet widely transported in bulk or used in the United
States, the environmental costs of LNG are generally comparable to those for utilizing natural gas,
except in the event of a major spill from a transportation or storage facility, where they would be
potentially catastrophic. Very low temperatures, very high volumes, and the high combustibility
of LNG when accidentally discharged into human or marine environments make it exceedingly
dangerous and potentially disastrous in its effects on human population concentrations and marine
environments.
The dollar costs of utilizing natural gas are “moderate” due to low transportation costs and
plentiful reserves in the United States. Estimates of economically recoverable reserves increased
Search WWH ::
Custom Search