Natural gas
Natural gas is a fossil fuel. It occurs naturally (hence the name) in parts of the Earth's crust, it and can be burned for energy. Like all fossil fuels, natural gas consumption contributes significantly to climate change, although slightly less than coal & oil. Natural gas is sometimes referred to as just "gas" (not to be confused with gasoline, which is a product of petroleum oil refining).
TODO: Add graphs:
1. Pie chart of how much of all greenhouse gas emissions are from natural gas (about a quarter, I think).
2. Bar chart comparing the emissions per unit energy of coal vs oil vs natural gas.
Usage for making fertilizer
Methane (the main component of natural gas) is used for making fertilizer. This only contributes about 1.4% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, but helps provide more than half of the world's food.
Non-energy use
Like oil, natural gas is used for making some types of plastic. This does not release carbon into the atmosphere, but there are other environmental issues caused by (mostly disposable) plastics.
Other notes
- Natural gas is mostly methane (with a bit of ethane), which is non-toxic but highly flammable. It has no odor on its own, but trace amounts of other gases
(...)( methyl mercaptan and hydrogen sulfide ) are added to the supply, so people can smell if there's a dangerous gas leak.
TODO: talk about sources of methane that will continue to bubble up no matter if we extract them or not. how significant are they?
TODO: talk about infrastructure and pipelines