On the recordJune 20, 2012
On June 4, America's Natural Gas Alliance issued a report contesting the EPA's recent study on greenhouse gas emissions and natural gas development. Specifically, the study found that methane emissions from shale operations are 86 percent lower than EPA estimated. Furthermore, methane doesn't remain in the atmosphere for long relative to other gasses. Unfortunately, some energy alternatives receiving government subsidies have worse emissions than what we thought. The new book, ``Green Illusions,'' by Ozzie Zehner, shows that building solar cells releases substantial quantities of emissions like sulfur hexafluoride, which lasts 267 times as long in the atmosphere, and have nearly doubled since 1998. According to a May report from the International Energy Agency, U.S. carbon emissions are down more than any other country. In fact, since 2006, U.S. emissions have fallen 7.7 percent, with the increased use of shale gas as a key factor in the drop, according to the Agency's chief economist. This leads to a conclusion that many might find paradoxical. If global warming is a problem we need to address, then we should welcome the increased production and use of natural gas as a prime energy source. ____________________
