Celebrating America’s Energy Independence
July 15, 2019
Considering the recent July 4th holiday celebrating America’s 243 years of independence, I thought it appropriate to highlight the energy independence that the United States is enjoying as a result of natural gas. American oil and natural gas production volumes are at record highs, and the US is now producing more oil and natural gas than any country in the world.
In fact, the US is on track to export more energy than it imports for the first time since the 1950s; during the past decade, the U.S. energy trade deficit fell by $363 billion, while the non-energy trade deficit rose by $343 billion. And while the use of renewables to generate electricity will continue to grow as well, that sector is expected to provide less than one third of all electricity generated over the next 30 years.
As we celebrate our energy independence, we see that there is very clearly a place for natural gas in America’s clean energy economy. And the good news is that at a time when production continues to increase, data is showing that emissions are decreasing, thanks to efforts by ONE Future and its member companies who are committed to reducing methane emissions – and succeeding!
In addition to our own findings, the US Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) released the most comprehensive life cycle emissions of the 2016 profile of the US natural gas systems. This analysis has 30 distinct scenarios: 27 onshore scenarios (conventional, unconventional, offshore production scenarios, and an associated gas scenario).
The findings showed that the national average life cycle GHG emissions from the natural gas supply chain are 19.9 g CO2e/MJ (with a mean confidence interval of 13.1 to 28.7 g CO2e/MJ). The CH4 emission rate for the national average is 1.24%, (0.84 to 1.76%) of delivered natural gas.
More of a visual person? Check out this video by Energy in Depth that shows natural gas production across the globe from 1996 to present, demonstrating how the US has become the leading producer in recent years, making America more energy secure – pretty amazing!
So what does this mean to the everyday user? It means they can be confident in their fuel choice, today and into the future. Natural gas is safe, abundant and becoming more and more clean to use by the day. And the energy independence we enjoy as a result is nothing but good news for our country and its economy.
Richard Hyde, Executive Director