>At 11:49 AM 4/18/00 +0100, you wrote:
>
>>BTW thanks for posting the David Crockett Williams input to Strategic Plan
>>2000. I found it very interesting, especially the move to try and convince us
>>that natural gas is somehow 'clean'...
>>
>
>Chris, I'm sorry to say that the section on natural gas was totally wrong:
>
>>in absolutely no way is natural
>>   gas combustion "cleaner" in terms of reducing carbon dioxide emissions
>>   because it still yields carbon dioxide upon combustion in the same
>>   proportions as coal or oil.
>
>In fact, any basic primer on CO2 will confirm that natural gas emits less
>CO2 per unit of energy generated than oil or coal. So in the UK in 1990,
>natural gas contibuted 33% of the enrgy supply, but only 19% of the CO2
>emissions. I'm afraid that the writer's failure to grasp this basic point
>doesn't fill me with confidence about the accuracy of the rest of the post.
>
>Best wishes
>
>Chris

Well, with due respect to your expertise...haven't you missed the point ?

I am, of course, very well aware that NG is  _cleanER_ than coal and oil,
and that the UKs reduction in CO2 emissons is largely due to the switch from
coal to NG... that's not the point that the guy was trying to get at, and that
I'm trying to explain to you here now...the point rests on the 
definition of the
words CLEAN. As you just said above, 33 percent NG gives 19 percent of
emissions. How can you say that 19 percent is CLEAN ? It ain't. It is still
a large contribution to atmospheric CO2, out from the Earth's crust where
it was locked away, and into the atmosphere where it adds to Warming.

To my mind, a CLEAN fuel, if the word is to make sense in this context,
is a fuel which does not contribute pollution of the environment.
Natural Gas does contribute to pollution of the environment - just
rather less than coal and oil - so Natural Gas is not CLEAN, just CLEANER.

It seems that the fossil fuel lobby wants to convince us that NG is clean,
therefore everything is okay. That's obviously not correct, because NG
still adds to atmospheric carbon.

As I read him, that's what the guy meant.

C.L.




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