High Noon For Natural Gas

[DJ Bolivia]

High Noon For Natural Gas, by Julian Darley
Many people, realizing the problems with the global supply of oil, point to natural gas as a clean and viable solution to wean us off our oil dependence.  The problem is that this is a false solution.  Much of the remaining natural gas around the world is not in locations conducive to supplying the gas to markets, because it has to travel through pipelines.  LNG, or liquid natural gas, is not a wise approach, because by the time our society invests several years and untold billions of dollars in developing sufficient LNG infrastructure, the gas will start to run out.  North America in particular is in deep trouble.  Canada and the US will have depleted a very significant percentage of remaining natural gas on the continent within ten years.  Even the large discoveries on Alaska’s North Slope will only give us a few more years of breathing room, and elsewhere on the continent, very little area remains unexplored.  Even today, there are occasional rotating power outages in US cities, because power utilities that rely on natural gas for generation of electricity are having problems sourcing supply, and many natural gas generating stations in various stages of development are being shuttered because policy makers are starting to realize the gas is already running out.  I found this book to be incredibly interesting.  Until I read it, I thought of the world as having a problem with the disappearance of oil.  Now, I look at it more as "convenient energy" is running out.

[Chip Haynes]

   Absolutely right- and completely terrifying. Natural gas doesn't deplete in a (reasonably) gentle curve like oil. It drops off a cliff and goes straight down, with little or no warning. So much of America's electrical power is generated by natural gas, we should be VERY concerned about our futre with regard to our ability to keep the lights on. Electricity is right up there with running water when it comes to defining "civilization". We lost our power here for sevaral days after a hurricane a coupl eof years ago, and it was NOT the whiz-bang fun party you might think it would be- and we were ready for it.
   The bottome line: If peak oil has you depressed, just take a look at natural gas. You'll feel MUCH better about the dire oil situation!