US Natural Gas Is America’s Clean Energy Standard

Authored by  Jason Hayes & Timothy G. Nash via RealClearEnergy,

Abundant and affordable energy drives America’s powerful and productive economy. That’s been true throughout our nation’s history, and America’s recent achievement of energy independence provides the most concrete illustration of that fact.

But to keep our nation firing on all eight cylinders, we need government policies that prioritize providing adequate, reliable and secure domestic energy supplies.

Our recently published report, “Grading the Grid,” reviewed a variety of potential energy sources. Two — natural gas and nuclear — stood out as the most sensible energy options for the future.

No other energy source fits the abundant, affordable and secure prescription as well as American natural gas. Despite increased use, new drilling technologies, such as fracking, produced a 79% increase in annual natural gas production in the U.S. from 2007 to 2021.

As we produce more of it, prices are dropping. American families saved $147 billion over the last decade because of more affordable natural gas. American Gas Association testimony before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Accountability indicated that households that use natural gas for heating, cooking and other appliances save an average of $1,068 per year compared to homes using electricity for such appliances. Natural gas powered 36% of America’s total energy needs in 2023 and 43% of U.S. electricity generation. 

Natural gas also helps improve air quality. Americans are enjoying 78% cleaner air since 1970. The transition from older coal-fueled technologies to more efficient natural gas turbines for electricity generation is the primary reason that the U.S. is a world leader in lowering carbon emissions. Energy-related carbon dioxide emissions have decreased by more than 18% since 2007, while electricity generation from natural gas increased over 88%. Natural gas, with its distinctive blue flame, has cleanly powered American homes and industry for many decades.

Natural gas should be the standard by which other hydrocarbon energy sources are measured, such as fuel oil, kerosene, petroleum and coal. Pipeline-quality natural gas — gas that has been processed to remove contaminants and to meet specific quality standards — sets a high but reasonable bar for clean energy. Policymakers in Washington D.C. and state capitals should craft legislation that targets these standards of affordability, reliability and cleanliness that natural gas achieves.

Using natural gas as the standard could encourage the development of technologies, like catalysts or formate, that allow us to continue using hydrocarbons, like fuel oil, kerosene, diesel, or coal, to produce energy and then use captured greenhouse gas emissions associated with their combustion to generate useable fuels.

These are engineering challenges that are both economically feasible and technologically sound. They are also exactly the kind of ground-breaking idea that the U.S., the most innovative society on earth, is known for. There is no reason to take affordable and reliable energy sources off the table when we can rely on American ingenuity to produce clean electricity from what has traditionally been allowed to escape into the air as a waste product

Nuclear power is the second most promising energy source. It is also affordable like natural gas, but even cleaner and more reliable. American nuclear plants produce effectively emission-free electricity and can do so 24-7-365 for many decades.

Nuclear power has supplied about 20% of the electricity needed in the U.S. since the 1990s. However, a combination of misinformation and government overregulation of nuclear power limits its expansion. It can, and should, be America’s largest source of baseload grid-scale electricity generation.

America’s increasing population will need more electricity in the future. As data centers and artificial intelligence become more prevalent, nuclear and natural gas become even more important. Former U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz highlighted how the expansion of artificial intelligence and data centers are rapidly growing electricity demand.

If America is to maintain and grow its economic prosperity, Moniz explained at the 2024 CERAWeek meeting in Houston, it needs a far more reliable electricity supply — what nuclear and natural gas provide. “[U]tilities will have to lean more heavily on natural gas, coal and nuclear plants, and perhaps support the construction of new gas plants to help meet spikes in demand,” he said. “We’re not going to build 100 gigawatts of new renewables in a few years.”

Energy affordability and independence are the new keys to American prosperity. Nearly 60 million Americans consider energy affordability a factor when they decide who they will support in an election. Hardworking Americans deserve a sensible energy strategy that maximizes the use of our existing nuclear plants and our abundant supplies of natural gas. Energy policy must also encourage private investments in innovation that can help other energy sources meet the pricing, reliability and cleanliness standards of American natural gas.

Jason Hayes is director of energy and environmental policy at the Mackinac Center. 

Dr. Timothy G. Nash is director of the McNair Center at Northwood University.