NATURAL GAS

Advantages of using it
Natural gas is an abundant resource across the United States, and new discoveries and extraction methods have led to a dramatic rise in shale gas development making America the world’s leading natural gas producer.

When it was discovered
Naturally occurring natural gas was discovered and identified in America as early as 1626, when French explorers discovered natives igniting gases that were seeping into and around Lake Erie.

WHO DISCOVERED IT

How much we use it
Natural gas is a major and essential part of the U.S. energy market, amounting to 25 percent of overall energy use and more than 20 percent of electrical production, according to the New York Times. But to fully understand gas's impact, you have to take a close look at a variety of statistics measuring usage across a number of industries.

Where it comes from
It comes from underground sediment like decade trees animals leaves and such and layers of dirt and rock get trapped underneath them layers and natural gas is made

What country uses it the most
1 United States 689,900,000,000 2011 est.

DISADVANTAGES OF USING IT

• Like other fossil fuels, natural gas still does create greenhouse gas emissions.

Is it very expensive to us
If you’re converting to natural gas from electricity or oil, get ready for savings. When you compare, you’ll see that on average, over the past five years, natural gas has been about 66 per cent less expensive than electricity and about 67 per cent less expensive than oil.* Use our conversion calculator to see for yourself.

What equipment needs to be used in order to use this resource / how is it produced
The natural gas used by consumers is composed almost entirely of methane. However, natural gas found at the wellhead, although still composed primarily of methane, is by no means as pure. Raw natural gas comes from three types of wells: oil wells, gas wells, and condensate wells. Natural gas that comes from oil wells is typically termed ‘associated gas’. This gas can exist separate from oil in the formation free gas, or dissolved in the crude oil dissolved gas. Natural gas from gas and condensate wells, in which there is little or no crude oil, is termed ‘nonassociated gas’. Gas wells typically produce raw natural gas by itself, while condensate wells produce free natural gas along with a semi-liquid hydrocarbon condensate. Whatever the source of the natural gas, once separated from crude oil if present it commonly exists in mixtures with other hydrocarbons; principally ethane, propane, butane, and pentanes. In addition, raw natural gas contains water vapor, hydrogen sulfide H2S, carbon dioxide, helium, nitrogen, and other compounds. To learn about the basics of natural gas, including its composition,

How it is used
A clean generating source for almost a quarter of the nation's electric power.
Cleaner transportation for our highways.
Efficient heating, water heating and cooking for homes and businesses.
A raw material for fertilizers and a component in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, medical implants, sports equipment, electronics, plastic toys and paints.
A heat source for generating steam used in numerous industrial and commercial applications, including the steel, plastics, automotive and pulp and paper industries as well as schools, hospitals and military bases.

Pollution
Air pollution from natural gas development is a growing problem.
There is a great deal of uncertainty about exactly how much hazardous pollution is being emitted into our air during the development and processing of natural gas. But scientists know enough to be very concerned about how natural gas development is harming the air quality of our communities—and jeopardizing children’s health.