Carbon Emission less by Drilling for Natural Gas

The article takes a hit at Obama’s suggestions of nuclear fuel and offshore drilling to reduce carbon emissions.

More: http://bit.ly/96W1r6

He feels drilling for natural gas would solve the energy requirements with less carbon emissions. He states that when you burn natural gas, the energy comes from two reactions: one that turns carbon into carbon dioxide, and another that turns hydrogen in water. Thus, from the start, natural gas generates less greenhouse gases for the same amount of energy produced.

It gets even better if you burn natural gas in a “combined cycle” power plant. In a typical, coal-fired plant, the energy released is captured in the form of heat and eventually turned into electricity. In a combined cycle plant, you capture the energy released from natural gas in two ways. First, you get the power by the expansion of the gas it heats up.

The gas expands and pushes a piston. In a combined cycle plant, the gas expands and spins a turbine, just like in a jet engine. the gas is still hot (just like the exhaust on your car). So, why not take that heat, make steam and use that steam to generate even more power? It’s great energy efficiency and a fractional carbon foot print, what’s not to like?

He goes on to say that wind power relies too much on the whims of nature and installation cost of solar energy plants are exorbitant. Read more to see why he says burning natural gas is a much less intensive carbon intensive way of generating energy than burning any other fossil fuel.