Annotated bibliography #1, natural gas

The United States Environmental Protection Agency [US EPA] Natural Gas 2007 http://www.epa.gov/rdee/energy-and-you/affect/natural-gas.html

This resource begins by briefly summarizing what natural gas is and how it is used to produce energy. It also gives a little bit of information about three methods which power plants use to produce electricity with natural gas. The methods explained are: burning gas in a boiler to produce steam, which is used by a steam turbine to generate power; burning the gas in a combustion turbine which generates electricity; and one that I found particularly interesting which is known as the “combined cycle,” this method uses both a combustion and a steam turbine. Next, the resource discusses the environmental impacts of natural gas use. I found this part to be the most useful because it is an EPA publication. It begins by saying that there are state and federal laws which regulate the power generation technologies, but that there are still a variety of environmental impacts associated with the burning of natural gas. In then goes on to enumerate five ways that typical energy production methods impact the environment. These are: air emissions, water resource use, water discharges, solid waste generation, and land resource use. Under each of these categories the resource summarizes the unique impacts of natural gas energy production. I find this resource to be informative and to clearly represent the position of the EPA on natural gas as an energy source.

Natural gas: the cleanest of the fossil fuels.

Natural gas is all too often left out of discussions about cleaner energy alternatives. It is already used extensively throughout the world, and most of us probably use it more than we realize. In fact, in 2007 natural gas accounted for 27% of the total energy consumed in the United States. Natural gas is the cleanest and most efficient of all the energy sources available to us today. It is also extremely abundant, with large deposits found right here in Alaska. It is unknown exactly how much natural gas we have in North America, but we do know that it isn't going to run out any time soon. In fact, much of the natural gas found on the north slope is just burned off because there is no infrastructure in place allowing for it to be collected and transported to market. In Anchorage we get our natural gas from Cook Inlet.

http://www.naturalgas.org/