Limited impact on decadal-scale climate change from increased use of natural gas

McJeon, Haewon; Edmonds, Jae; Bauer, Nico; Clarke, Leon; Fisher, Brian S.; Flannery, Brian P.; Hilaire, Jérôme; Krey, Volker; Marangoni, Giacomo; Mi, Raymond; Riahi, Keywan; Rogner, Holger; Tavoni, Massimo

doi:10.1038/nature13837

Cited by 205 publications

(111 citation statements)

References 68 publications

(92 reference statements)

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“…Broad-scale energy systems modeling studies have projected that more abundant natural gas will only slightly impact aggregate greenhouse gas emissions, as the benefits of replacing dirtier fossil fuels are offset by the displacement of nuclear and renewables and the stimulation of energy consumption due to lower prices [McJeon et al, 2014;Newell and Raimi, 2014]. While these economy-wide studies attempt to project the overall response of energy systems to growing availability of natural gas, direct substitution studies are needed to quantify the net emissions impacts of specific natural gas substitutions and thereby inform policies that could influence those substitutions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Net greenhouse gas emissions savings from natural gas substitutions in vehicles, furnaces, and power plants

Cohan

Sengupta

2016

IJGW

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We compare the net greenhouse gas emissions impact of substituting natural gas for other fossil fuels for five purposes: light-duty vehicles, transit buses, residential heating, electricity generation, and export for electricity generation overseas. Emissions are evaluated on a fuel cycle basis, from production and transport of each fuel through end use combustion, based on recent conditions in the United States. To compare across sectors, the emissions difference between natural gas and its alternative is normalized by natural gas consumption to compute the net reduction in CO 2 e per MJ of natural gas used. Greatest emission reductions can be achieved by replacing existing coal-fired power plants (78 g CO 2 -e/MJ natural gas) or fuel oil furnaces (66 gCO 2 e/MJNG). Compressed natural gas in vehicles yields no significant reductions.Uncertainties arising from upstream emission rates for natural gas and the global warming potential of methane are quantified. The study demonstrates the critical role of deployment choice on the net climate impact of natural gas.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Net greenhouse gas emissions savings from natural gas substitutions in vehicles, furnaces, and power plants

Cohan

Sengupta

2016

IJGW

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“…These changes are increasingly viewed as a threat to both the global economy and the natural environment [1][2][3][4]. This increase in CO 2 is mainly attributed to human activities [5][6][7][8][9][10]. However, methane (bases: CH 4 50%-70%, CO 2 30%-40%) is one of reproducible biomass energy, which can obtain available energy sources, but also generate abundant greenhouse gas that goes against the purity of CH 4 [10].…”

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confidence: 99%

KOH-activated graphite nanofibers as CO₂adsorbents

Yuan¹,

Meng²,

Park³

2016

Carbon letters

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Porous carbons have attracted much attention for their novel application in gas storage. In this study, porous graphite nano-fiber (PGNFs)-based graphite nano fibers (GNFs) were prepared by KOH activation to act as adsorbents. The GNFs were activated with KOH by changing the GNF/KOH weight ratio from 0 through 5 at 900°C. The effects of the GNF/ KOH weight ratios on the pore structures were also addressed with scanning electron microscope and N 2 adsorption/desorption measurements. We found that the activated GNFs exhibited a gradual increase of CO 2 adsorption capacity at CK-3 and then decreased to CK-5, as determined by CO 2 adsorption isotherms. CK-3 had the narrowest micropore size distribution (0.6-0.78 nm) among the treated GNFs. Therefore, KOH activation was not only a significant method for developing a suitable pore-size distribution for gas adsorption, but also increased CO 2 adsorption capacity as well. The study indicated that the sample prepared with a weight ratio of '3' showed the best CO 2 adsorption capacity (70.8 mg/g) as determined by CO 2 adsorption isotherms at 298 K and 1 bar. Key words: activated graphite nanofibers, KOH treatment, CO 2 adsorptionThe rapid increase of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) in the atmosphere is generally thought to be a major factor in climate change. These changes are increasingly viewed as a threat to both the global economy and the natural environment [1][2][3][4]. This increase in CO 2 is mainly attributed to human activities [5][6][7][8][9][10]. However, methane (bases: CH 4 50%-70%, CO 2 30%-40%) is one of reproducible biomass energy, which can obtain available energy sources, but also generate abundant greenhouse gas that goes against the purity of CH 4 [10]. It is essential to find an ideal material to work out the austere problem. Usually, CO 2 capture and storage is an efficient green technology used to reduce emissions by transporting and storing CO 2 in deep geologic formations. The capture methods can be classified as post-combustion, pre-combustion, and air separation followed by oxyfuel combustion [7]. Among the currently available technologies, post-combustion is the most easily applied technology. It involves use of absorption, adsorption, cryogenic distillation, membranes, and gas hydrates.Up to now, high-performance adsorbents have been widely used for CO 2 capture. Conventional solid adsorbents include zeolites [11], activated carbon [12], mesoporous silica [13], metal oxide-based adsorbents (e.g., MgO and CaO) [14], and metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) [15]. Nevertheless, in each case, there are defects in the adsorption process. Zeolites and mesoporous silica have the drawback of poor CO 2 capture performance. With zeolites, adsorption of moisture could affect the stability of the zeolite frameworks, and demands high regeneration temperature (>573 K). This results in huge energy consumption for CO 2 desorption. Meanwhile, although the adsorption capacity for CO 2 of activated carbon is high due to pore sizes ranging from micr...

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“…The ratio of natural gas to renewables used to generate electricity is sensitive to how much inexpensive gas is available. The red and blue lines show the median of this ratio across five energy-economic models used by McJeon et al 4 for scenarios of abundant and conventional gas supplies, respectively, whereas the shaded areas show the full range spanned by the individual models. For cases in which less gas is available (that is, in the conventional scenario), renewables as an electricity source begin to grow faster than gas 10 years into the 40-year modelling period.…”

Section: A Crack In the Natural-gas Bridgementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Progressive substitution of gas for coal and oil can thus decarbonize the energy sector 2 and serve as a 'bridge' to a more distant future when carbon-free, renewable-energy technologies are more affordable and reliable than they are now 3 . In a paper published on Nature's website today, however, McJeon et al 4 uncover a serious crack in the gas bridge: in the absence of new climate policies, increased supplies of natural gas may have little effect on CO 2 emissions and could actually delay decarbonization of the global energy system.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A crack in the natural-gas bridge

Davis

Shearer

2014

Nature

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Limited impact on decadal-scale climate change from increased use of natural gas

Cited by 205 publications

References 68 publications

Net greenhouse gas emissions savings from natural gas substitutions in vehicles, furnaces, and power plants

Net greenhouse gas emissions savings from natural gas substitutions in vehicles, furnaces, and power plants

KOH-activated graphite nanofibers as CO₂adsorbents

A crack in the natural-gas bridge

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Limited impact on decadal-scale climate change from increased use of natural gas

Cited by 205 publications

References 68 publications

Net greenhouse gas emissions savings from natural gas substitutions in vehicles, furnaces, and power plants

Net greenhouse gas emissions savings from natural gas substitutions in vehicles, furnaces, and power plants

KOH-activated graphite nanofibers as CO2adsorbents

A crack in the natural-gas bridge

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KOH-activated graphite nanofibers as CO₂adsorbents