Abstract
In response to climate change and energy transition, natural gas has been rapidly developed as a relatively low-carbon energy source by many countries. However, there remain environmental risks at different stages in the entire process from exploitation to utilization. Firstly, this article identifies various environmental risks and benefits of natural gas along the entire industry chain from upstream exploitation and midstream transportation to downstream utilization. It is found that, during upstream exploitation, hydraulic fracturing has the worst environmental impact. During the midstream storage and transportation stage, methane leakage is the biggest environmental risk. In the downstream combustion and utilization stage, the risk to environment is less than other energy sources, although there are some greenhouse gas effects and water pollution issues. Thus, this article puts forward some policy recommendations for different stages from exploitation to utilization. In the upstream stage, especially hydraulic fracturing activity, we suggest strengthening environmental assessment management, improving policy standards, creating a water quality monitoring plan, and promoting the innovation of key technologies. In terms of the midstream, besides pipeline laying and site selection, we focus on monitoring the system, including leak detection, quality management of engineering materials, and risk identification and management. When it comes to the downstream, we encourage the application of advanced technologies to improve thermal efficiency and reduce emissions, such as gas-fired related technologies, natural gas recycling technologies, distributed energy technologies, and green and low-carbon service technologies.
Highlights
As a result of actual or predicted effects of climate change and the ongoing energy transition, natural gas has become a favored energy source, due to its relatively clean combustion, during the transition from fossil fuels to fully renewable energy by the governments of various countries
According to the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates, the carbon dioxide emissions of one million Btu of calorific value produced by natural gas combustion are 53.97 kg, whereas the combustion of various types of coal emits 95.35 kg of carbon dioxide on average, gasoline emits 71.30 kg, and petroleum coke emits 102.1 kg (EIA United States Energy Information Administration, 2018)
Natural gas emissions are relatively small in the production process, but there is a certain risk of leakage
Summary
As a result of actual or predicted effects of climate change and the ongoing energy transition, natural gas has become a favored energy source, due to its relatively clean combustion, during the transition from fossil fuels to fully renewable energy by the governments of various countries. The carbon dioxide emissions of natural gas in the combustion and utilization stage are much lower than other fossil energy sources, natural gas still has certain environmental risks in other stages of the industrial chain from exploration and production to utilization (Kondash et al, 2017). A number of studies have conducted extensive research on water pollution caused by hydraulic fracturing activities during natural gas development. The novel aspects of this article are mainly twofold: one is to cover the most environmental risks related to natural gas all around the world, not just the water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions that current scholars are mostly concerned about in one country; the other is to cover the entire natural gas industry chain, rather than just focusing on the environmental risks at a specific stage
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