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ALTERNATIVE FUELS * USA: Climate-destroying leaks
* Texas - Natural Gas trucks and buses aren't actually eco-friendly
The Woodlands,TXS,USA -Business Inside, by ROB WILE -FEB. 14, 2014: -- Lots of major companies and municipalities have touted switching their truck and bus fleets to natural gas in recent years to take advantage of the Great American Shale Boom... The main benefit is that natural gas saves money — up to a dollar per unit of fuel used... But there's been more ambiguity over another claim: that the switch is eco-friendly... A new study suggests a depressing answer: Switching your truck to natural gas doesn't help mitigate carbon dioxide emissions, at all... The climate effects arise from methane leaks that come from pumping, transporting, and using natural gas. The more natural gas that escapes before being completely burned, the more negative the impact on the climate. The researchers analyzed 20 years' worth of methane leak studies to determine their true extent when the fuel is used in different ways... Then, they calculated the environmental cost of a switch to natural gas by comparing how much carbon dioxide gets emitted by existing energy sources like coal and gasoline, versus how much "leaky methane" the natural gas production, delivery, and consumption system creates... The climate impacts of the leaks proved to be different based on the natural gas's intended usage. They found that the leaks used to deliver and subsequently consume natural gas were more harmful than if those vehicles stuck to plain old diesel... They also found the benefits of switching from coal to natural gas are real...
Labels: alternative fuels
posted by Unknown @ 11:53 AM
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