Natural Gas : The Least Polluting Of The Fossil Fuels
In terms of emissions from combustion, natural gas, composed mainly of methane (CH4), is the least polluting of the fossil fuels. Per unit of energy produced, CO2 emissions from natural gas are 45.7% lower than those from coal (lignite), 27.5% lower than from diesel, and 25.6% lower than from gasoline. As discussed by Olah et al. (2006), humans have long been aware of the properties of natural gas. Gas leaking out of the ground would frequently catch fire, ignited, for example, by lightning. A leak and a subsequent fire on Mount Parnassus in Greece more than 3,000 years ago prompted the Ancient Greeks to attach mystical properties to the phenomenon— a flame than could burn for a long time without need for an external supply of fuel. They identified the location of this gas leak with the center of the Earth and Universe and built a temple to Apollo to celebrate its unique properties. The temple subsequently became the home for the Oracle of Delphi, celebrated for the prophecies inspired by the temple’s perpetual flame. The first recorded productive use of natural gas was in China, dated at approximately 500 BC. A primitive pipeline constructed using stems of bamboo was deployed to trans¬port gas from its source to a site where it could be used to boil brine to produce both economically valuable salt and potable water. Almost 2,000 years would elapse before natural gas would be tapped for productive use in the West. Gas from a well drilled near Fredonia, New York, was used to provide an energy source for street lighting in 1821. The Fredonia Gas Light Company, formed in 1858, was the first commercial entity established specifically to market natural gas. Joseph Newton Pew, founder of the Sun Oil Company (now Sunoco), established a company in 1883 to deliver natural gas to Pittsburgh, where it was used as a substitute for manufactured coal gas (known also as town gas). Pew later sold his interests in natural gas to J. D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil. The early application of natural gas was primarily for lighting, not only for streets but also for factories and homes.