CNG is environment friendly. justufy
Answers
It's been hailed as a clean, cost-effective alternative to gasoline—as well as coal—but there are some new doubts being raised about the environmental benefits of natural gas.
The fuel has been gaining support, especially in the automotive industry, where proponents are pressing to get more manufacturers to offer compressed natural gas, or CNG, options.
And with production rapidly expanding along with an increase in "fracking"-style drilling, President Barack Obama is lending his support as a way to reduce both America's dependence on foreign oil and the production of global-warming carbon dioxide.
Craig Hartley | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesA compressed natural gas (CNG) pump fuels a Chevrolet Suburban SUV.But a new study by a group of scientists from various federal labs as well as MIT, Stanford, Harvard and four other universities is throwing that optimism into question. If anything, natural gas "is not likely to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," cautions the study's lead author Adam Brandt, of Stanford. At best, switching a car from gasoline to CNG is "on the borderline in terms of (the benefits to) the climate," he says.
The problem isn't actually with natural gas itself, the researchers emphasize. It's with the way the fuel is produced.
More from The Detroit Bureau
Obama pushes for more fuel-efficient trucks
Tesla, Apple reportedly meet to discuss possible tie-up
Weather wreaks havoc for global automakers
Like petroleum, natural gas is sourced from underground deposits, often from the same wells. For many years, a sizable amount of the gas was "flared," or burned off at the well site, because of either low demand or because of the difficulty of transporting it to markets where it could be used.
More pipelines are being built and other transport methods—such as specially designed supertankers—have become available.
And just in time. The energy industry has been rapidly expanding the use of so-called fracking, sending a mix of lubricants and other materials into wells to crack rock formations and thereby access vast underground stores of oil and natural gas that had long been considered out of reach.