The utilization of natural gas as an energy, heating and transportation fuel has skyrocketed in our nation as scientists, policy makers and other experts have designated it as a cleaner burning “bridge fuel.”

But a study released in Science on Friday gives new weight to the claim that natural gas is not a cure-all to our energy problems, bringing us to a “clean” national energy portfolio. As those opposed to the energy source have cautioned for years, the study finds that “methane emissions from U.S. and Canadian natural gas systems appear larger than official estimates.”

The United States should use natural gas more prudently, recognizing that it is not our energy messiah. As the energy source is nowhere near perfect, claims that natural gas is a “bridge fuel” to a better energy system or a “clean” fossil fuel are misleading and false.

Natural gas does have its positives, but we must keep in mind that the drawbacks call for it to just be a part of a diverse energy future — not the sole savior to our energy needs.

Methane gas, the main component of natural gas, is still a fossil fuel. This means it is a nonrenewable resource that, when depleted, will take millions of years to reform beneath our feet. While we do not need to worry about running out any time soon, easily attainable natural gas will eventually be a thing of the past.

With the advent of more intensive production methods such as hydraulic fracturing, or hydro-fracking, we are already tapping into source areas that are require extensive resources and energy to obtain.

With the issues of non-renewability, methane leakage is a strong driving factor of climate change, meaning that more methane in our atmosphere will increase the warming of our world.

While natural gas is considered a “cleaner” burning fuel than alternatives such as coal and oil, increased methane leakages counteract the “cleaner” mentality, the study reports. Coal and oil have a lot more greenhouse gas emissions coupled with their use, along with other nasty pollutants. But even with lower overall emissions, the type of leaks from natural gas production and transportation are more powerful and thus, likely, to increase temperatures.

Methane is one of the strongest greenhouse gases, which causes an increase in the overall temperature of our atmosphere.

These temperature increases are known to cause changes in our atmospheric and oceanic currents and alter climates throughout the world in different ways. They may increase and decrease local temperatures, increase the veracity and frequency of dramatic weather events such as hurricanes and blizzards or indirectly cause sea level rise, among other things. This is global climate change.

While natural gas is part of our future to transition to cleaner energy, we must remember that this is not the special pill to cure all of our energy woes.

There are positives to natural gas. It is available in the United States, a “home-grown” energy source. It can create economic gains in different parts of our country, though it has also been shown to create boom-and-bust cycles in local economies and other economic negatives — but that’s really a separate issue.

In truth, many of the negatives surrounding natural gas drilling, especially hydraulic fracturing, circle themselves around the failures of the natural gas energy sector, which has polluted and taken advantage of citizens across the U.S.

The most overwhelming positive for natural gas is that, in theory, it could be used as a “bridge fuel” from a dirty energy to a cleaner future. But the theory is far from reality. We must recognize the issues that natural gas presents and utilize this “clean” fossil fuel with a grain of salt.

Meg Callaghan is a senior environmental studies major at SUNY-ESF. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at mlcallag@syr.edu.

Published on February 20, 2014 at 3:14 am