Natural Gas vs. the World
Coal has long been the greatest climate villain, a carboniferous Darth Vader or Voldemort (I said it). Coal can emit from 76% to 95% more CO2 per unit of energy than natural gas.
So the latter looked like a good interim step toward zero emissions—like buying a hybrid car before EVs went mainstream. And natural gas has been a friend to alternative energy—filling in when wind and solar wane.?
But natural gas often leaks on the way to the power plant. And its primary component, methane, is up to nearly 100 times more heat-trapping than CO2. Depending on logistics, natural gas can be as climate-threatening as coal.
The U.S. has become the biggest gas-drilling country. And in 2023, it became the world’s biggest exporter, through shipments of liquified natural gas, LNG. Now, the Biden administration has implemented a pause on permitting new LNG export terminals.
Unlike the carrot of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which subsidizes green power, the LNG pause is a big stick—dangerous for a President already seen as weak on the economy. Four of the top-five natural-gas producing states—Texas, Louisiana, West Virginia, and Oklahoma—are probably lost causes for Biden in November. But the second-biggest gas producer is must-win Pennsylvania.
What about the enabling role gas has played in backing up renewables? The most-likely substitute is batteries—but probably not expensive lithium-ion cells that don’t easily provide the long, steady discharge needed. Along with other types of chemical batteries, alternative concepts for storing energy include pumping water up a hill, hoisting weights to the top of a tall building, and heating up molten metal.
In that last category is Fourth Power. It uses electricity from sources such as solar power to melt tin, held in carbon vessels that get so hot, they glow. The light powers, yes, more solar cells.?
Fourth Wave’s biggest challenge may not be making the tech work, but making it work better and faster than so many rivals. Kara Rodby, of VC firm Volta Energy Technologies, tells Worth that there’s no shortage of battery tech. The task for any firm is to stand out with defensible intellectual property to make it appealing to investors.?
Tough, fascinating, topics like these will be on the agenda at Worth’s Techonomy Climate West conference in Silicon Valley on April 3. Please join us.
— Sean Captain , executive editor
New On Techonomy This Week
Promising lower prices than lithium-ion, new battery tech stores excess wind and solar energy in molten metal and glowing carbon that powers photovoltaic cells.
领英推荐
The administration’s move puts a spotlight on a potent climate-warming gas: methane, the main ingredient in natural gas.
We’ve experienced wild economic swings, inflation, financial markets, and fiscal and monetary policy since COVID. The Fed usually begins a rate-cutting cycle after recessions, but not when growth is strong.
From genetic mutations to the COVID-19 pandemic and vaping trends, exploring the rise of cardiovascular issues in young adults for American Heart Health Awareness Month.
Techonomy Climate 2024: Encoding Resilience
What We’re Reading