Natural Gas Unlocking the Low Carbon Future

Course Summary:

This course is all about Natural gas, the cleanest fossil fuel, which is a highly efficient form of energy. It is composed chiefly of methane; the simple chemical composition of natural gas is a molecule of one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms (CH4). When methane is burned completely, the products of combustion are one molecule of carbon dioxide and two molecules of water vapor. Natural gas delivered to customers is almost totally free of impurities, is chemically less complex and its combustion therefore results in less pollution than other fuels. In most applications the use of natural gas produces near zero sulfur dioxide (the primary precursor of acid rain), very little nitrogen oxides (the primary precursor of smog) and far less particulate matter (which can affect health and visibility) than oil or coal. Technological progress allows cleaner energy production today than in the past for all fuels, although the inherent cleanliness of gas means that environmental controls on gas equipment, if any are required; tend to be far less expensive than controls for other fuels.

Learning Objective:

• The gas industry
• The natural gas chain
• Reserves and production
• Transportation and storage
• Utilization
• Electricity generation vs direct use of natural gas
• The degree of access to oil, electricity, natural gas and hydrogen
• The costs of energy
• Global emission
• The electricity generation sector
• The industrial sector
• Residential and commercial
• The transportation sector
• Gas flaring in the oil industry
• Greenhouse gas emissions from the natural gas industry
• Energy and emissions at the production and processing stage
• CO2-rich natural gas in reservoirs
• Energy and emissions at the transportation stage
• A global overview of the natural gas chain
• Energy and emissions at the end-use stage
• Opportunities today and tomorrow
• Mitigation within the natural gas industry’s own operations
• Energy efficiency in own operations
• Fuel switching & renewable in own operations
• CO2-capture and -storage (CCS) in own operations
• Reduction of fugitive methane emissions in the gas industry
• Natural gas customers and climate mitigation
• Energy efficiency for natural gas customers
• Residential and commercial buildings
• Fuel switching & renewable for natural gas customers
• Natural gas as vehicle fuel
• LNG as a maritime fuel
• Switching from coal to natural gas in electricity generation
• Switching to hydrogen made from natural gas
• Mixing hydrogen into natural gas
• CO2-capture and -storage (CCS) for natural gas customers
• Cutting methane & flaring emissions for the oil industry
• Challenges
• Motivators
• Barriers
• Abbreviations
• Conversion factors
• IGU members involved in making this report

Review the quiz before studying the course.

Course Content

Course Author: International Gas Union (IGU)