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Natural Gas: Not just more Sustainable but also a Secure Source of Energy Did you know that, since 1750, over 320 billion tons of carbon has been emitted into the earth’s atmosphere? Terrifyingly, as the world’s lakes are gradually vanishing and the polar ice-caps melting, such high levels of carbon emissions threaten to shift the state of the earth’s atmosphere and ocean system to ice-free greenhouse conditions. With global warming arguably the most critical problem facing the planet today, the need for a rapid transition from fossil fuels such as oil and coal to cleaner energy resources, including natural gas, has never been more pressing. There are, of course, obvious environmental benefits to using natural gas, significantly in the reduction of carbon usage. The cleanness of natural gas is reinforced by the fact that approximately six times as much oil as gas is needed to provide the same amount of energy. And, since gas evaporates when not in use, it creates less waste than oil, doing less damage to bio-diversity. Another advantage of using natural gas is that it is a more secure source of energy. Because fossil fuels like oil and coal are gradually running out, oil production is in decline in many oil-producing areas such as the UK, Norway and Mexico. Linked to this, because oil is becoming more scarce, there are many oil-holding governments abroad who are emphasising their control of their own country’s energy supplies. Being both more sustainable and within economically practicable reach of British import markets, natural gas is more available and more accessible than other hydrocarbon fossil fuels. What this means for us is that those electricity and gas suppliers whose major source of energy is natural gas are likely to be more reliable than those using regular fossil fuels. British Gas, for example, one of the major gas and electricity suppliers in England, is also a leader in using and promoting natural gas as the most sustainable and secure energy source. British Gas has a natural gas supply portfolio ranging from Kazakhstan to Brazil, which enables the company to supply electricity and gas to high demand areas across the UK, Europe and South Africa. Because it also has a highly developed Liquid Natural Gas infrastructure, British Gas are able to obtain gas supplies, located in often geographically and geologically tricky areas. Check out the British Gas website for the details of how they operate as gas suppliers. |