Regulatory Challenges Facing Renewable Natural Gas

Abstract

Natural gas is coming increasingly under attack by policymakers and elected officials who are embracing “electrification only” as a means of reaching state clean energy and climate‐mitigation goals. Achieving these goals may mean reducing the use of natural gas as a residential and industrial fuel. Earlier this year, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) launched a new rulemaking to address the state's transition away from natural gas. The commission will address issues related to stranded assets and cost recovery, and unfair shifting of costs among different customer classes. Other state public utility commissions in New Jersey and New York may follow shortly, given their increasing opposition to interstate natural gas pipelines that would serve their residents and businesses.

Energy Applications of Magnetocaloric Materials

“…Among these, the development of batteries [407,408] certainly represents one of the major research tracks. However, hydrogen production from renewable electricity [409,410] and its storage [411] or pumping into power-togas networks [412,413] also plays an important future role. The same holds for biogas or bio-methane, which may lead to future replacements for compressed natural or liquid natural gas.…”